Toora-Loora-Lorelai
by LanieSullivan
Summary: Upon Lorelai's 18th birthday, Emily Gilmore is distraught that she still doesn't know where her runaway daughter is when the police have suspended their investigation. Enter federal agents, Lee Stetson and Amanda King. Can they find her and reunite the Gilmore family? Set pre-series GG and post-season 3 of SMK.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: "Gilmore Girls"is the property of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Warner Brothers. "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" is the property of Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon Productions. The plot is mine, but not the characters. This story is meant for enjoyment purposes only. No infringement is intended.

 **AN:** Just a little background before this story begins. Since I write for two vastly different fandoms that include very chatty women in Amanda King and Lorelai Gilmore, I have wondered for years what it would be like to put them together. The trouble is that with the different time frames, it was a challenge to figure out how to do that, but I finally came up with the idea that it would have to be pre-series of Gilmore Girls shortly after Lorelai ran away from her parents' home when they didn't yet know where she was and that Lee and Amanda of SMK would help to track her down, the connecting factor being their boss, Dr. Smyth who could possibly know the elder Gilmores since he loves his country club lifestyle. One additional note to the SMK fans unfamiliar with GG, the Emily referenced throughout this fic is Emily Gilmore, Lorelai's mother, not SMK's Emily Farnsworth.

 **April 25, 1986**

Richard Gilmore entered the bedroom he shared with his wife of the last twenty-two years with a call of, "Emily, I'm leaving!" When he received no reply, he looked around for her. "Emily?" Still hearing no response, he checked the large walk-in closet and the bathroom, but she was still nowhere to be found. With a shake of his head, he meandered down the hall in search of her and was about to head back down the stairs when he heard a soft whimper from somewhere behind him. He turned and listened closely in an attempt to discern its source, soon realizing that it was coming from Lorelai's room.

Letting out a deep sigh, he flung open the door to find Emily hunkered down on Lorelai's bed with tears streaming down her face and clutching the teddy bear their daughter had left behind. "Emily..." he whispered softly as he approached her and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, pried the stuffed animal from her grasp, tossed it aside and took her hands in his, "Emily, you have got to stop doing this," he scolded firmly, but gently.

Yanking her hands from her husband's grip, Emily sat up and stared straight ahead at Lorelai's abandoned dollhouse. "She's eighteen today, Richard," she replied forlornly. "She's legally an adult. Now, she doesn't ever have to come home if she doesn't want to." She sniffled and continued in a choked voice, "We'll never see our daughter or granddaughter again."

"Emily, stop," Richard demanded. "She'll come home eventually. I don't know what led to her running away or why she was so angry with us, but even she can't stay that angry for _that_ long."

"Did you even read the letter she left behind? 'Dear Emily and Richard,' not even Mom and Dad," she said with a derisive snort. "That's how much she hates us." She let out a deep sigh. "I had such plans for her eighteenth birthday too. A big party with all her friends, all _our_ friends...of course, that all went to hell when-"

"Emily!" Richard commanded sharply and glared down his nose at her as he rose to his imposing full height. "Enough! I insist that you stop wallowing in self-pity and get out of this bed this instant! I have to be at the club for a golf date and I do not have time for this!"

"You're leaving?" Emily's eyes flared in anger at her husband's prickly tone as she jumped from their daughter's bed and pointed an accusing finger at him. "How can you be so...so...so callous? This is our daughter; our granddaughter! How can you leave at a time like this?"

"What would you have me do, Emily, hunker down and cry and moan because she's not here?" He sighed in frustration. "Yes, I miss Lorelai and Rory; I miss them every bit as much as you do, but are we supposed to stop living because they're gone?"

"But it's her birthday!" Emily protested. "I thought since you hadn't left for the office already, you'd stay home for it."

"Why should I? She's not here for it! Besides, you knew very well that I had this golf outing with Austin Smyth today. That's how I was able to get away from the office for the day because it is about business."

"Richard!" She gaped at her husband, a horror-struck look on her face.

Unwilling to coddle her, Richard shook his head. "I stand by what I said, Emily. Lorelai is NOT here for her birthday, by her own choice, so she clearly does not care what plans you wished to make for her, just as she didn't care last year...or have you perhaps forgotten the blazing shouting match the two of you had over it?"

"No, of course, I haven't forgotten! She told me she didn't want any _damn_ party where all I was going to do was push our snobbish friends on her to look down their noses at her and drop not-so-subtle hints that she should marry Christopher."

"You have to admit, Emily, that was part of your plan," he reminded her.

"Well, so what? Why shouldn't she be pushed to make the right decision for once? When you get pregnant, you get married, it's as simple as that! And don't you try to act as if this is all my doing. You were the one who promised you'd set Christopher up in your company."

"I would still be quite willing to do so, however, Lorelai made it rather plain that she had absolutely no interest in it, no interest in marrying Christopher and no interest in your party!"

"Oh, God! What if that's why she ran away? Because I cancelled her birthday party last year!"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"You think it's ridiculous? That letter doesn't make it sound so ridiculous to me when she accused me of controlling her every move!"

"Yes, I think it's ridiculous. I think it's ridiculous that you cancelled her party out of spite, I think it's ridiculous that you think that's why she ran away, I think it's ridiculous that I lost potential clients over you cancelling the party at the last minute and most of all, I find this entire argument ridiculous when it won't do anything to bring her back!"

"Of course," she snorted all traces of her tears gone. "That's what you care about, isn't it? Your precious business!" Mocking him in a childish voice, she added, "I lost potential clients over it." In her normal voice, she snapped at him, "You know, just once at a party, you could spend your time mingling with our guests instead of turning our home into your boardroom."

"What else would you suggest I do at these dull parties of yours, Emily? Perhaps I should spend all my time with your vapid DAR friends while they engage in idle prattle about who's got a new trophy wife or who's shtupping their secretary."

"Vapid?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "I suppose you find me vapid too, but I've noticed that idle prattle doesn't seem to bother you when you're at the club trying to land a new client over eighteen holes."

"That's business, Emily, and might I remind you, business that paid for this house and business that I _must_ attend to." He held up his wrist and tapped at his watch. "And very soon. You know quite well that I can't cancel on Austin who provides one of my company's largest accounts, especially when he's flown up here from D.C. just to meet with me this weekend, something I might remind you, he did as a courtesy to me so that I wouldn't have to go out of town on Lorelai's birthday and leave you completely alone for days." He took a deep breath to calm himself and in a cooler tone, added, "Now I suggest you get dressed and treat this like any other day. Come to the club with me and meet with your girlfriends, go have lunch with the ladies at the DAR or whatever it is you would do on any other day when you know I have business to attend to. Maybe have a glass of wine or two with lunch to calm your nerves."

"Don't be ridiculous, Richard, Only trollops and trophy wives have _two_ glasses of wine at lunch."

Richard grinned at her salaciously and replied, "Maybe it will be the start of a whole new you."

"Oh, Richard, honestly," Emily replied as she slapped at him playfully, the tension between them broken for the moment.

"What's really going on here, Emily?" he asked her earnestly. "There's more to it than just your thwarted plans for her birthday." When she simply shrugged, he questioned, "Isn't there?"

She nodded slowly. "Detective Mills called yesterday and said that they couldn't invest any more time in looking for her and Rory since they were out of leads and..." she swallowed hard in an attempt to keep herself from breaking down again, "...and since she's turning eighteen, they couldn't make her come home if she didn't want to. He also said that even if they did find her since she would legally be an adult, they were not obligated to tell us where she is...or Rory since she's her mother."

"I see," was Richard's reply as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Emily shook off the tears that had begun to form again and raged, "What the hell is wrong with them that they couldn't find her by now? How damn difficult can it be for trained police officers to track down a seventeen-year-old girl...with a year-old baby, no less? My God, they must have the collective intelligence of a garden hose! She can't have gone that far, for God's sake! It's not as if she had a huge amount of money to travel with. She can't touch her trust fund until she's twenty-one." A horrible thought struck her just then. "Oh God, what if she's out of money? What if they're living on the streets? What if they're starving?"

"Emily, stop it! I think you and I both know Lorelai better than that," Richard chided her. "You know that she would never let Rory starve."

"But the police said that they couldn't find any records that she was working anywhere and a minor has to apply for a work permit to be able to work legally...so that must mean she's doing something _illega_ l. What if she's turned to drugs...or worse...to make a living?"

"What exactly are you suggesting, Emily?"

"Well, you hear these horror stories on the news all the time about these teenage prostitution rings and she _did_ get pregnant before her sixteenth birthday."

"Emily, you are overreacting! You know that Lorelai is much too smart to allow herself to become mixed up in something as shady as all that. Have you perhaps considered the possibility that some kind soul has taken her in and let her work off the books?" he asked. His voice softened, "Who could take one look at little Rory and turn her away or let her go without? And you know Lorelai...she's a Gilmore...she would never accept a handout. She'd insist on working to earn her keep. I'll bet that's what has happened."

Emily breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "You're right. I'm sure I'm overreacting. It's just...I'd give anything to just be able to see her again...or just hear her voice again. If she'd only just call us to let us know that she's all right...that she's safe."

"She will...in time. I'm sure of it," Richard replied confidently to reassure her, though he wasn't as sure as he tried to make it sound. While neither would admit it, Lorelai and Emily were cut from the same cloth in their sheer stubbornness and their unwillingness to admit when they were wrong. He knew Austin Smyth was a government type. Perhaps he could provide some assistance in the next steps in locating their wayward daughter to give them both some peace of mind.

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Four holes in, Richard hit a long drive landing square on the green and his golfing companion uttered, "I think you may birdie this one." Austin Smyth paused as he stepped up to the tee box for his shot. "Speaking of, a little birdie tells me you still haven't heard from your prodigal daughter."

Richard nodded. "No, we haven't," he confessed.

"Pity." He swung at his ball, landing it inches from Richard's.

"The bigger pity is that Emily seems to think life should just stop because she's gone and because today is her birthday."

As they walked toward the green together, Smyth inquired, "Speaking of her fiesta de cumpleaños, this birdie also tells me that your local boys in blue have suspended their investigation now that the girl is no longer a blushing schoolgirl."

Richard couldn't help laughing sardonically. "Considering that she got pregnant before her sixteenth birthday, I doubt she was _ever_ blushing."

He shook his head as if to shake off that nagging thought. Even though he'd known since just after her fifteenth birthday that she was no longer a virgin when he'd caught her in the act with a different boy, then later learned Christopher had gotten her pregnant, he still had trouble digesting that information. While he'd tried to console Emily and get her to listen to reason, he couldn't help partially blaming his wife for their daughter's behavior.

Contrary to her insistence that he hadn't read Lorelai's letter, he had, too many times to count. Emily was just as controlling as their daughter accused her of being, but unlike their daughter, he _liked_ that about her. He liked that she kept their home running smoothly so that he had no worries after long hours spent at the office. In Lorelai's narrative, Emily wasn't the only one to blame; he was as well for not being a hands-on father and for being gone so much. He supposed she was partially right on that, but he'd always done his best to provide for his family. That's what the man of the house was supposed to do. He just wondered how Lorelai and her daughter were being provided for now since she had no one to do such things for her. He shuddered as he recalled Emily's suggestions of her becoming involved in something illegal.

As they reached the green after the long silence between them, he cast a glance at Austin wondering just how to broach the subject, then it occurred to him that he'd said a little birdie had told him these things. He gave his companion a suspicious look. "How is it that you know all of this anyway?"

"Richard, you know what my real business is. That's why I've counted on you and your company for years...for your discretion, but you know that I'm in the business of secrets; not only keeping secrets but learning them as well."

Reaching for his putter, Richard knelt for a moment to contemplate both his prospects for making his putt and for getting Austin's assistance, then as he rose and lined up his putter, he casually inquired, "Speaking of your business, is there maybe something you could do to help with this situation? If your 'firm' is so good at finding out secrets, perhaps it could be used to discover where she's been hiding all these months." He tapped the ball with the putter and then turned to Austin with a smile as it rolled smoothly into the hole.

"My 'firm' is hardly in the business of tracking down disorderly delinquents."

"Hmm...then perhaps my business will no longer be so discreet," Richard countered in a vaguely threatening tone as he stepped out of the way to allow the other man to make his putt.

"Then perhaps we should adjourn this meeting and I should move our assets to a different firm," the Agency Director replied as he turned his attention to his shot.

"You could, I suppose, but it still wouldn't change all the secrets that I know and I happen to be personal friends with Mitchum Huntzberger." At seeing the other man's face pale slightly as he made a wild putt and sent his ball sailing past the hole, he gloated triumphantly, "Ahh...so you've heard of him. I suspected you might have since he owns half the newspapers on the Eastern Seaboard. He also has a young son a little older than my granddaughter, so I'm sure he'd understand the desperate measures a concerned father might resort to in order to make sure his child was safe."

Smyth nodded in acquiescence. "Touché. I can't spare much manpower, mind you, not without raising a red flag to the number-crunchers on the House Oversight Committee, especially since they just approved our budget a few months ago, but I do have some new recruits looking for their first field assignment in our Hartford office. I can make a call to have them pull the police reports. Will that suffice?"

"If it will help give my wife some peace of mind, it will."


	2. Kids Do the Darnedest Things

**May 15, 1986**

Lee Stetson and Amanda King entered the Georgetown Foyer, accepted their IDs from the Agency's matronly guard dog, Mrs. Marston, but then paused when she gave them a slight wave of her hand in warning. They glanced at one another warily and then up the stairs to where they heard the distinct sounds of shouting.

"What's going on?" Amanda asked in a hushed tone.

In an equally hushed tone and not quite able to completely hide the mirthful grin on her face, the elder woman answered, "Dr. Smyth is having his head handed to him. Listen." She then pointed up the stairs behind her.

As they listened intently, a shrill female voice barked, "You KNOW who we are! We're Gilmores for God's sake! I went to Smith! My husband went to Yale! We are-" Her words were cut off, but they were unable to hear Smyth's reply, which wasn't surprising to either one, because while he was often sarcastic, he very rarely raised his voice.

Apparently whatever Smyth had said didn't deter the woman for long because she was soon right back at it, "Well, it must have also escaped your notice just how much work my husband has already done for you people! The hours he's logged in making sure that your assets are secured and if you ask anyone about his reputation, you will know that he is the best in the business! Why you can't give us the best in _your_ business is unfathomable to me!"

Again the woman went silent at which time, Lee interjected, "As fascinating as this is, we do still have work to do. We have got to finish up our paperwork on the Krutiov/Martinet thing." He gave the matron at the desk a curt nod and with a hand on the small of Amanda's back, led her up the stairs, through the outer door and into the hallway that would lead them to their office. His motion was halted by Amanda coming to a dead stop in front of him and nudging him slightly with her elbow as she gestured to the immaculately-dressed woman standing a few feet from them with tears streaming down her face. They hung back near the outer door until they could evaluate the situation.

"Emily, I understand that this is upsetting to you-" Smyth began.

"No, you don't!" Emily Gilmore snapped. "My daughter has been missing for nearly five months now! Five! The local police won't lift a damn finger to try to find her anymore and the crack team you assigned to her case in Hartford did virtually nothing! Do you have any idea how heartbreaking it is for a mother not to know where her child is? To not know if she's dead or alive?"

"Lee?"Amanda whispered softly to her partner, her heart breaking for the distraught woman.

"I know," he replied back in the same quiet tone and gently squeezed her hand. "But this isn't really Agency business."

"But Lee..." Her voice became choked with emotion. "Imagine if it were Phillip or Jamie that were missing."

Lee nodded in understanding and let out a deep sigh. He knew he'd never win that kind of argument with her, so resigned himself to the idea of working on a case in which he had no desire to be involved.

Amanda smiled at her partner. "Dr. Smyth," she approached their superior confidently where he stood in front of the door to the Q Bureau.

"Ah, Mrs. King," Smyth replied as he stepped aside. "I'm keeping you and Scarecrow from your work." He then gave Emily a pointed look. "Just as I'm being kept from mine. Good day, Mrs. Gilmore," he said to her coolly reverting to the more formal salutation now that he knew he was being observed by his subordinates. "I'm sorry that you wasted a trip all the way from Connecticut. Do give your husband my regards and tell him I'll see him at the club this weekend." He turned toward the outer door to make his exit.

"No, Sir," Amanda contradicted him, stepping in front of him to keep him from leaving. Lee cringed slightly at her making such a bold maneuver.

"No?" He questioned, as he took a long puff from his ever-present cigarette. "Something to add, Mrs. King?"

"Well, yes," Amanda replied with a smile. "It's not as if we could help overhearing your...um...well...your...disagreement with Mrs. Gilmore here and I know that you don't know me very well yet, Sir, but you do know that I'm a mother and if...well, if something were to happen like this to one of my boys...I just don't know what I'd do. But what I do know is that I would want to make sure that I had the best possible people investigating. Do you have children yourself, Dr. Smyth?"

"NO," he growled.

"Well, let me tell you, they can be a handful, taking off on you from time to time. I will never forget when my older boy, Phillip, was about four, we were at the mall, shopping for Christmas and one minute I had a hold of his hand very tightly, but then his little brother, Jamie who was only a year old at the time started to fuss, so I let go of Phillip's hand for just one second...and then...then he was gone."

"Mrs. King, does this story have a point?" Smyth interrupted irritably.

At hearing those words, Emily felt a sharp stab of pain as she thought of the younger woman's rambling as it reminded her so of her runaway daughter. How many times had she spoken those very words to Lorelai? Even looking at her dark hair, her stature, and the way that she carried herself put her in mind of her missing child.

 _That's it, Amanda,_ Lee thought, beaming with pride in his partner. _Talk him to death._

"Well, yes, of course it has a point: a perfectly good point. While my situation wasn't nearly as dire as Mrs. Gilmore's, you can't imagine the panic and worry that went through my mind when my little boy was missing. I mean, there we were in a crowded shopping mall, less than a month before Christmas during the busiest shopping time of the year and my poor baby was only four and-"

Smyth held up his hand to silence her. "Let's get down to brass tacks here, King. What do you want?"

 _Gotcha'_ Lee thought while Amanda just smiled broadly and said, "Well, Sir, Agent Stetson and I just wrapped up the Krutiov case except for finishing the paperwork. I don't see why we couldn't take a look at Mrs. Gilmore's case. I mean, she _did_ come all the way from Connecticut. Besides, didn't she say she wanted the best in the business and everyone knows that's Lee, right?" She smiled at her partner.

Smyth let out a sigh. "Point, set and match, Mrs. King," he replied wearily as he handed her the file he'd had tucked under his arm then hurriedly made his way through the exit door. He couldn't help the grin that crossed his face once he was halfway down the stairs. While he didn't know the King woman well, he'd seen enough reports about her to know that she'd be just the right person to take over the Gilmore investigation and that was why he'd intentionally steered Emily toward that location, knowing Scarecrow and his partner were due in at any moment. He'd kept the argument with Emily going longer than he should have, but he had needed to make sure they were in position when his subordinates arrived.

Once Smyth had left, Amanda immediately went to comfort the distraught mother while Lee moved to unlock the door to their shared office. "Hello, Mrs. Gilmore. My name is Amanda King, but you can just call me Amanda. May I call you Emily?" When Emily nodded with a sniffle, Amanda continued with a nod to Lee who had just opened the door, "Well, that's my partner, Lee Stetson and as you heard, we are going to take a look at your case and see what we can do." She put a comforting arm across the other woman's shoulder and led her into the office. "Lee..." she nodded to the coffee maker behind his desk and he dutifully moved to start making a fresh pot.

Emily replied, "Thank you."

"Listen, why don't you just sit down right here on the sofa? It's much more comfortable than those hard chairs." She made a face at the chairs that resided in front of Lee's desk. While Emily numbly moved to sit on the sofa, Amanda dropped the case file onto her desk, reached for the box of tissues that sat there and then sat beside her. "I thought you might need these."

"You're very kind," Emily responded politely as she took the box from the younger woman.

"As I told Dr. Smyth, I'm a mother too and I can't imagine the pain you're going through right now. So, why don't you tell me about your daughter?"

"Y-you mean...you d-don't want to just read about it all in the case file like the other agents did?"

"Well, I certainly could do that, but I'd rather hear it from your point of view," Amanda explained. When Lee gave her a baffled look, she quickly added, "But only if you feel up to it, of course."

Emily nodded again. "What is it you'd like to know?"

Amanda gestured to Lee for pen and paper. "Well, for starters, how old is your daughter?"

"She just turned eighteen last month, but she's been gone for longer than that. She ran away from home just after Christmas." Emily reached into her purse and pulled out a well-worn letter. "She just took off with my granddaughter without a word and left me only this."

Lee looked startled as he as he looked up from the notepad he'd been scribbling in. "She has a child?" he queried with an arched eyebrow.

Amanda shot Lee a disapproving look before holding out her hand to Emily. "May I?"

"What are you thinking, Amanda?" her partner questioned with a curious glance.

"Well, you remember the Sallee case?"

"Yeah, sure. You were brilliant in how you figured out all those clues from the diar-Oh, I get it. You're hoping that-I'm sorry, Mrs. Gilmore, what's your daughter's name?"

"Lorelai," Emily answered.

Lee turned his attention to Amanda. "So, you're hoping Lorelai's letter may offer some clues like that diary did?" Amanda just nodded and began reading.

"I don't know if you need to know this too, but her daughter's name is Lorelai as well...although, I can't tell you how I objected to that. I asked her 'Who does that?' Do you know what she replied in her usual smart-alecky way? 'Men name their kids after themselves all the time, so why can't I?'" She snorted. "Ridiculous. Of course, to simplify things, we called her baby Rory for short. Such a sweet baby girl."

Lee looked at Emily curiously and couldn't help thinking that the woman before him missed her baby granddaughter more than she missed her own daughter. "So, how old is Rory?"

"Nineteen months old." Emily shook her head. "And I know what you must be thinking about Lorelai since she just turned eighteen, but my husband and I pleaded and pleaded with her to marry the boy who got her pregnant. I kept telling her 'when you get pregnant, you get married', but that stubborn daughter of mine simply refused to listen to reason."

Amanda looked up from her reading and in a gentle tone as she clasped Emily's hand to comfort her, she told her, "I assure you, we weren't thinking anything of the sort. These things do happen."

Emily pulled her hand abruptly from Amanda's, rose from her seat so that she was now looking down at Amanda and snapped, "I suppose that's something you'd be all too familiar with."

"I beg your pardon."

"You said you're a mother, but I can't help noticing that you're not wearing a wedding ring."

"I don't see that that has a thing to do with my ability to help find your daughter," Amanda shot back in a bit of an affronted tone.

"Don't you see? If you're a single mother too, you're going to be more likely to side with her rather than bring her home where she belongs."

Lee stepped in to defend Amanda. "First of all, her situation is a hell of a lot different. For one, she wasn't a teenage mother and she _was_ married. She's just divorced now. As for bringing Lorelai home, I'm not sure that's something we can do. She's eighteen and therefore, legally an adult."

"You people are useless! You sound just like those dimwitted detectives who halted their investigation into her disappearance just because she's eighteen."

"Unfortunately, they're right," Amanda informed Emily. "And so is my partner. We can't force her to come home, but what we can do is find her and try to talk her about coming home, although ultimately that decision is up to her. At the very least, when we find her, we'll do our very best to make sure she contacts you. With her being a mother too, maybe she'll understand why it's so important for you two to keep in touch." She glanced over to the coffeepot to see that it was done brewing. "Now, we're still going to have some more questions for you. Would you like some coffee while you answer them?"

Emily swallowed hard, looking utterly defeated as tears filled her eyes once again. Blinking them back, she forced herself to remember that these people were trying to help her and to remember the manners that had been drilled into her head from a young age. "That would be lovely, thank you."

"How do you take it?"

"Cream and sugar please," Emily responded as she sank wearily back onto the sofa willing herself not to break down again. This was the third time she'd been given this information, but she just hadn't wanted to accept it. She finally had to concede defeat and admit that she just might not see her daughter or granddaughter ever again.

Lee impatiently tapped the notepad in his hands with the pen he held. "Now, Mrs. Gilmore, what can you tell us about what was happening in your household just before Lorelai took off? Was she upset about anything? Did you two have a fight?"

"Are you implying that it's my fault that my daughter's gone?" Emily sniped hotly. Even as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them because she knew it _was_ partially her fault.

"Oh, no," Amanda interjected as she returned with the coffee. "It's just that the more we know about what happened right before and right after her disappearance, the more luck we might have in finding her."

"I understand." She let out a sigh. "We _did_ have a fight," she confessed. "An awful one. It was just after our annual Christmas party and I'd just had to hire a new nanny for Rory, the sixth one in a year because Lorelai kept scaring them off...or telling them off. She screamed at me that she wanted me to stop...that _she_ was Rory's mother, not me, not the nannies, but...but she was just a child and since she refused to marry Christopher, _someone_ had to step in and help."

"I think I understand," Amanda replied softly. She knew all too well the burden of having a meddling mother since she felt as if she were always dodging questions and unsolicited advice from her own mother, especially regarding her love life. Of course, this situation was entirely different. Lorelai was a teenage mother and while it was quite apparent that Emily loved her very much, she could see why the young woman would have found her mother's interference detrimental in her attempts to learn how to be a mother to her child. She'd caught a few things in the letter Lorelai had written about Emily being controlling and she had to admit, the older woman did have that air about her...like her whole world fell apart if everything around her wasn't under her complete control. The story Emily just told them had confirmed what she'd already suspected. While she sympathized with Emily missing her daughter and granddaughter, she couldn't help wondering if Lorelai was justified in leaving. She just hoped she and her daughter were safe.

After several more questions with Emily providing as much detail as she could remember, they finally said their goodbyes. Amanda handed her Lee's business card as she walked her out to the foyer. "If you think of anything else that might be relevant, even something small, no matter how insignificant you think it might be, please call us, okay?"

"I will," Emily promised. "Thank you again...Amanda."

"You're very welcome. Have a safe trip back to Connecticut." When Emily paused at the door, Amanda asked her, "Was there something else?"

"Yes, I was just wondering...how did you find your little boy in a crowded shopping mall?" She was curious if the same method could be applied to finding the missing Lorelais.

"Oh, that." Amanda chuckled slightly at the memory. "Actually, I didn't. He found me...well, in a way. When he realized that we were no longer together, he remembered what I told him about trusting policemen if he ever got lost and he marched right up to one of the mall's security guards and told them that his mommy was lost and insisted they find her. Of course, at only four, he didn't know that a security guard wasn't the same as a policeman; he just saw the uniform and did what I'd always told him to do, so they sent an announcement over the PA system that they were looking for a lost mommy. What was funny is that when they tried to ask him my name, he insisted it was 'Mommy,' so then by the time I got to the security office, they asked me all kinds of questions to verify that I was his mother, but it just really makes you think how much your children listen to you when you don't think they really are."

"Ohhh," Emily sighed in disappointment, knowing that nothing like that would be able to aid in finding her daughter and granddaughter. The younger woman's story about her missing son and how he'd listened to her had her reflecting back on all the times she and Lorelai had fought over the years and she couldn't recall a time that her daughter had ever listened to her like that and now it seemed, she wanted nothing to do with her own mother. She knew without a doubt, Lorelai would never go to that much effort to find her. Her daughter knew exactly where she was and how to find her if she wanted to; she simply didn't want to. "Well, I've taken up enough of your time, so I'll be on my way."

"We'll contact you when we have some news," Amanda promised.


	3. The Name Game

When Amanda returned to the office after seeing Emily out, she found Lee at his desk perusing the file Dr. Smyth had left behind. "Anything helpful?" she queried.

"Not so far," he replied irritably.

"You're annoyed that I insisted we take this on," Amanda surmised as she walked around his desk and perched on the edge of it facing him.

"No, no, no, not at all," he denied as he looked up from the file.

She gave him a stern look. "Lee..."

"Okay, okay." He let out a sigh and took her hand in his. "It's not that I don't understand why you want to do this. You're a mom and you hate to see another mom hurting over her child. I know how strongly you feel about family. I remember that's why you were so adamant about helping Elizabeth Sullivan last year; you didn't want to see her family torn apart. It's just...I guess I just don't understand why the Agency is involved in a runaway teen's disappearance in the first place. It's not a matter of national security, or a terrorist threat or-"

"Well, Dr. Smyth must have had a reason for taking it on," she countered. "I mean, who would know better than he does what would and would not fall under the Agency's jurisdiction." She picked up the file and started skimming it. "Hmm...didn't Emily say something about her husband protecting the Agency's assets when she was yelling at Dr. Smyth?" She flipped through the pages. "I'm not sure what she meant by that, but there must be something in here about it."

"I looked him up." Lee tapped the computer screen. "Richard Gilmore, son of Charles...and get this... _another_ Lorelai Gilmore. What's with this family and that name?" He shook his head. "Just like his wife was screaming about to Smyth, he's a Yale graduate, currently works as the senior account manager in charge of long-term accounts at Gehrman-Driscoll Insurance Corporation."

Amanda put the file down and shifted her position to look at the computer screen over Lee's shoulder. "That's probably it." She tapped the screen. "Look at his list of accounts. CSN, for starters...isn't that one of the Agency's cover businesses?" Her eyes drifted down the list. "Oh...and look, there's IFF on the list too."

"You know something...you're right...there are at least a half a dozen more Agency fronts on his list of accounts. Maybe that's why Smyth got involved in the first place. It seemed like he knows the Gilmores personally from his country clubbing. Maybe Richard Gilmore threatened the Agency to get Smyth's help. I mean, if he's anything like his wife..."

"Oh, I don't know, Lee. I don't think she was that bad. I think she was just hurting because she's worried about her daughter and granddaughter and you know when people are upset, they have a tendency to...I don't know...lash out at whoever happens to be nearby." She nodded toward the computer. "However the Agency investigation came about, it does seem that Dr. Smyth used Mr. Gilmore's connection to the Agency to justify it."

"Yeah, I just wish we could figure out how to find this kid so we can get back to more important things." He smiled warmly at her, thinking of the kisses they'd shared and how it had taken their relationship to a new level that he was dying to explore further.

"Have I thanked you yet for doing this for me?" she asked, returning his smile as she leaned in for a long, lingering kiss.

His smile widened and he replied, "No, but that's a good start."

"Listen, since you hate the computer, what do you say we switch?" She suggested as she offered him the file. "I'll take over the computer stuff and you can finish reading through this."

"I like that plan," he readily agreed as he gave up his seat to her and took over her former position on the edge of the desk.

An hour later, Lee let out a sigh. "This is useless," he moaned as he leaned his head against the back of the sofa where he'd moved to be more comfortable. "There's nothing useful here. Both the local badges and the rookie agents Smyth initially assigned to this did all the normal searches...no recent social security records, no work records, no income tax records, no bank account...they also checked airports, bus terminals and train stations and found no records of her purchasing a ticket anywhere when she left Hartford."

Amanda nodded. "I'm afraid that I'm not having any better luck. The last record I found was of her registering to take the GED test, but that was before she left her parents' house." She frowned at the computer screen. "I can't help thinking though, that with her having a baby to support, surely she's got to be working at some kind of job."

"I hate to even suggest this, but a runaway teenager...there's all kinds of things they can get sucked into when they're desperate and-"

"I know. You don't have to say it," Amanda cut him off as a shiver ran up her spine.

"I think it needs to be said, Amanda," he insisted as he rose from his seat and approached the back side of the desk where she sat and leaned against it facing her. "Maybe that's why she hasn't contacted her parents. Since she was underage when she left home and would need her parents' approval to get a work permit, maybe she's gotten into drug-dealing or prostitution or something equally bad just to make some quick cash. Or worse, maybe she got mixed up with the wrong crowd trying to make some money and she's-"

"Dead," Amanda completed morosely, her heart aching at that thought, not only for Lorelai, but for her baby.

He lightly squeezed her hand to comfort her. "I don't want to think that, Amanda, but I don't know what else _to_ think when we know one thing's for sure, there is no employment or tax record...or anything anywhere for Lorelai Victoria Gilmore." He glanced at the file again. "Maybe we should talk to this Hayden kid...the one who got her pregnant. I know the local PD interviewed him, but he's a kid; he could have lied...or she could have contacted him since then. If he's her baby's father, maybe she'd reach out to him instead of her parents. I know she didn't want to marry him, but surely if she cared enough about her daughter to want to get out of her mother's controlling hands, she'd care enough to not deprive the baby of her father."

"Hmmm…let me see that file again," Amanda requested as the wheels in her brain began turning at a furious pace.

"Sure. Beats me going blind staring at it," he replied with a shrug as he handed it over.

She began perusing the details of the case, muttering to herself as she did so. "Lorelai Victoria…" She flipped to the next page. "…and Leigh…"

"Yeah?" Lee questioned.

"What?" Amanda looked up, startled by his voice when it pulled her from her musings.

"You said my name," he replied a bit testily.

"Oh! No, not you, Lee." She tapped the page in the file. " _This_ Leigh…only not L-E-E, like you; the younger Lorelai's middle name is Leigh, spelled L-E-I-G-H. Lorelai may have named her daughter after herself, but she didn't give her the same middle name."

He nodded as if he understood while his brain attempt to follow her thought process. "Okay, but I don't see how that's getting us any closer to finding her."

Amanda began typing at the keyboard again as a thought struck her. "Well, I think you may be onto something with what you said."

"What? The kid? Hayden?"

"Yes...I mean, no, not Christopher Hayden. His kid...or _their_ kid, I should say. Something you said struck me. Maybe we need to stop thinking of Lorelai as just some runaway teenager and start thinking of her as a mother. You said Lorelai wouldn't want to deprive her daughter, right?"

"Right."

"Well, that got me thinking...maybe we're looking for the wrong Lorelai Gilmore. We're looking for Lorelai Victoria Gilmore when we should be looking for Lorelai _Leigh_ Gilmore."

"The baby? I don't get it. How's that going to help? Wouldn't there be even less records for her?"

"Not necessarily." She tapped the computer screen displaying her newest search results. "Ta-da!" Lee leaned over her to look at the monitor.

"The kid's medical records?" Lee's eyes widened as he read. "Amanda, you're brilliant!"

"No, not really. I'm just a mom and I know that kids that age are on a very specific vaccination schedule and I was doing a little mental math. Rory would have been about fourteen months old when Lorelai took off and there are immunizations that a baby is supposed to have at fifteen and eighteen months."

"I wonder why the local PD didn't think of that," he mused. "If Lorelai took her kid in for a shot four months ago, you'd think they would have found this before they gave up. Not to mention she got another one a month ago that our agents in Connecticut didn't find. Why?"

"Probably for the same reason you didn't think of it. They must have thought they wouldn't find anything on little Lorelai and were solely searching for the older one."

"So, this says that Lorelai - the older one, that is - took her daughter to a pediatrician in Stars Hollow, Connecticut and that as of a month ago, they were living at the Independence Inn just outside of town. Makes me wonder if I wasn't right about the prostitution thing if she's living in a hotel."

"Oh, Lee, stop! You don't know that. I'll bet you anything she's just doing some kind of work there off the books."

"Come on, Amanda, I know you always like to look for the best in people, but you're not the only one who did a little mental math. If you look at her kid's birthday compared to hers, that means she got knocked up at age fifteen and gave birth at sixteen, so I wouldn't discount that theory."

"This place she's living in is a little country inn, not some seedy no-tell motel that rents rooms by the hour," Amanda countered.

Lee stared at her with an arched eyebrow. "Oh? How would you know that?"

"Because I've stayed there," Amanda replied succinctly. "As for the other part-"

"Hold on just a minute," he cut her off. "Don't think you're getting off that easily. Didn't we say we were on our own personal mission to get to know each other better?"

"Yes. Yes, we did, but-"

"So, I think I need a little more information here on how you just happen to have been to this inn in Stars Hollow," he teased with a flirty grin. "Is there something I should know there?"

"Spoken by the man who could win an Olympic medal in keeping his past to himself," she fired back with a cheeky grin.

"Well, you weren't exactly forthcoming with the whole story about your divorce," he reminded her. "Besides, I told you about Eva, about Dorothy, about my uncle...I think I'm entitled to a juicy story or two about you. I mean, this is just the kind of thing I was talking about when I said I still feel like there's a lot about you I don't know."

"If you're looking for something juicy, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed. It's not really that big a deal. It was about a year before we met, just after the divorce was finalized and I didn't want to dwell on it or worse, have the boys dwell on it and since it happened shortly before their fall break from school, I decided to take them on a little road trip. One of my neighbors had told me that Stars Hollow has some really unique festivals and one right after another, so I took them up there for the Autumn festival for the long weekend. They had a big cornucopia in the town square, booths selling all kinds of things, music and people dressed in pilgrim costumes. The boys loved it."

"Huh."

"I told you it wasn't very exciting, but anyway that's how I know the Independence Inn isn't _that_ kind of place. It's more of a family place. And as I started to say before I was so rudely interrupted, maybe Lorelai getting pregnant so young was because she was just a terribly lonely girl who reached out for whatever human contact she could. While I sympathize with Mrs. Gilmore's situation, she's not one of the warmest people I've ever met."

"I'll agree with you there. Either way, I guess that means we can tell Richard and Emily Gilmore where their daughter and granddaughter are."

"Not so fast," she argued in a warning tone. "I know you're in a hurry to get this wrapped up, but I really think we ought to take a more cautious approach. If Lorelai ran away once, she might do so again if her mother just shows up there. Besides, we don't know what kind of people the Gilmores really are. What if she had a very good reason to run in the first place?"

"Right, especially if they're friends with Dr. Smyth," he joked earning himself a scolding look from Amanda. "You're probably right that Lorelai would just run again if her mother surprised her there and I got the impression that Emily Gilmore is the type to do just that...show up and demand that her daughter come home. So, I guess we're taking a trip to Stars Hollow, huh?"

"Don't you think we should? Maybe if an objective third-party talks to her, they can...I don't know...reason with her and maybe talk some sense into her."

"Well, if anyone's good at that, it's you." He let out a sigh of resignation. "I'll go clear our travel arrangements with Billy."

She stood and planted a quick kiss to his lips. "Thank you. While you're doing that, I should make arrangements for Mother to look after the boys...maybe have Joe pop in to check on them too." Lee frowned at the mention of her ex. "Lee, you're just going to have to get used to the fact that he's their father and it looks like he's going to be staying around town for awhile."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he grumbled. "But I don't have to like it." To change the subject, he turned his attention back to the case at hand. "Speaking of which, what do you think this Hayden kid's deal is? We know Lorelai refused to marry him even though she was pregnant, but looking at the baby's medical records, his name doesn't appear anywhere on them. Do you suppose that he just dumped his responsibility to his kid when she wouldn't marry him?"

"That would be really sad if he did," Amanda commented. "But it also shoots a hole in your theory that she may have contacted him. I mean, if he basically abandoned their child, I can't imagine she'd want much to do with him."

"Unlike you, you mean?"

"Lee...don't."

"What? It's not much different, is it? Joe took off travelling to God knows where leaving you all alone. The difference is he left you to raise _two_ kids by yourself, not just one."

"Now, Lee, you know that was an entirely different situation. First of all, we were adults, not teenagers and second, he didn't abandon his responsibility to the boys - you know very well that he always paid child support. While, yes, he wasn't around a lot, he travelled for work, not to try to pretend they didn't exist. And those times when he was home, he did everything he could to let Phillip and Jamie know that he cared. Besides, we don't know for sure that Christopher Hayden abandoned his child. Like you said earlier, he could have lied to the police."

"I guess," Lee responded skeptically and then quickly changed the subject, not wanting to fight with her about it. "You know, I'd better go work this out with Billy so we can get on the road as soon as possible. I have a feeling that Gilmore woman is not very big on patience if she doesn't get results right away."

"Yeah, and I'd better make that call home, so I'll see you in a bit." She did have to admit at least to herself, if not to him, that his words had struck a little too close to home. She found herself empathizing with Lorelai Gilmore in her seeming willingness to do whatever it took to care for her daughter. "Hey, Lee?" she rose to stop him before he left.

"Yeah." He turned to face her.

"Listen, I know you don't really want to go to Stars Hollow, but look at it this way...It's a six-hour drive from here and that will give us plenty of time to talk, you know, get to know each other better like we both want to." Just as she had the other day when they'd finally shared a real kiss, she ran her hands up his chest and rested them on his shoulders.

"Yeah?" He slid his hands to her waist. He grinned mischievously at her. "Hmm...you do make a good point and since it is quite a drive, I doubt we'll be able to make a return trip in the same day, especially since we don't know what we're going to find when we get there. Soooo...that means we'll probably have to spend the night."

"Oh, definitely. We'll need a room." She nodded as she stepped closer to him and linked her hands behind his neck. "And they do have some pretty nice rooms at the Independence Inn."

His eyes widened at her use of 'room' instead of 'rooms,' but was afraid to push his luck by asking her about it. "I like the way you think." He beamed at her and was just about to lean in for a kiss when the door was opened. They quickly broke apart just before Francine entered the room.

"Again?" the blonde rolled her eyes. "Can't you two just get a room already?"

"Well, actually that's what we were just discussing," Lee replied with a salacious grin, unable to resist teasing her now that she'd interrupted them yet again. _Leave it to Francine Desmond to win the perfect timing award again,_ he thought ironically.

With an arched eyebrow, she questioned, "Oh? Finally planning your opening night?"

"It's for a case, Francine," Amanda hastily added a bit testily, hoping her face wouldn't betray her since she'd been rather elated that Lee didn't seem to balk at the suggestion that they get just one room at the inn. "This case we're working on for Dr. Smyth."

"The missing girl?" Francine asked. "I was just coming up here because Smyth was on a rampage downstairs and said he was only giving you guys until Monday to figure this out."

"Why didn't you just call?" Lee complained, irritation evident in his tone. "You know the phone up here works just fine."

"Lee, you've seen Smyth on a rampage. I got the hell out of there before he could get me in his crosshairs. Anyway, he said if you haven't found any new leads on the girl by Monday, it's done. He said the Agency's already wasted too much time and manpower on something we shouldn't even be involved in."

"I'm sure he threw money in there too," Lee commented.

"Probably, but I stopped listening after awhile. You know how he is when he gets into those moods. So, Monday's your deadline to find something new."

"No problem," Amanda chimed in cheerily. "We already found something new. We found the girl."

"Already? How'd you manage that when no one else has been able to track her down for months?" She rolled her eyes. "Leave it to our Scarecrow to have no trouble when there's a girl involved."

"If you wanna know the truth, Francine, it was all Amanda using her motherly thing again," Lee gushed with pride at his partner's ingenuity.

"Of course it was," Francine replied sarcastically. "Dinner at six, dishes at seven and case solved by nine."

"Actually, we have dinner at five," Amanda fired back. "The boys always have homework and they have an early bedtime so they'll be up in time for school." She cast a flirty glance at Lee. "Plus, it gives me time to do things that **I** want to do after they go to bed."

When he saw Francine visibly shudder at Amanda's comment, Lee jumped in before she could insert another jibe, "You know, I was just about to go downstairs to talk to Billy about making some travel arrangements, so if you'll excuse me." As Francine stepped aside to let him through the door, he couldn't help grinning at the thought that she wouldn't be able to interrupt them again for awhile.


	4. Chris Crossed

**AN:** Just a quick note for the SMK fans, the Francine appearing in this chapter is Francine Hayden of GG, not Francine Desmond of SMK.

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By the time Amanda settled everything on the home front, Lee had made their travel arrangements with Billy and each had gone to their separate homes to pack, the couple had just enough time for a quick fast food lunch before hitting the road. They chatted for awhile about how to approach the wayward teen once they got to Stars Hollow, but then Lee noticed that Amanda had gone eerily quiet as she perused the case files again.

"Everything okay over there?" he questioned, his brow furrowed in concern. It wasn't like her not to be babbling about something unless she had something really serious on her mind.

She glanced over at him and gave him a half-smile. "Yeah, I was just...just thinking."

"You care to share any of those thoughts?" he asked. "We did say we were going to use this time to work on getting to know each other better, didn't we?"

"Well, I was thinking about what you said to Emily when she made the crack about me being a single mom; you know how you said my circumstances were different?"

"And?" he gently probed.

She let out a little sigh. "It was really sweet of you to defend my honor the way you did, but honestly, when I think about it. It really wasn't _that_ different."

"How do you figure? You were older _and_ married," he argued.

"No, I wasn't," she corrected him. "Well, older, yes, but not that much older than Lorelai is now. I was not quite twenty-two and I had just graduated from UVA when I found out that I was expecting Phillip and I wasn't married at the time."

Lee's eyes widened in surprise and he gaped at her open-mouthed. "You weren't?"

She shot him a slightly perturbed look. "Watch the road," she admonished him lightly. "And no, I wasn't. I thought you knew that. I thought that's why you were asking me all those questions about my divorce a few months ago when Joe first came back to D.C. I thought you'd done the math and figured out that Phillip was born only six months into our marriage and that that was why Joe started law school a semester later than he should have."

"Huh." He shook his head. "No, I honestly never made the connection."

"Well, I was thinking, what if I'd made a different choice in those days? I mean, Joe and I had already sort of talked about getting married and having a family down the road, but we planned for it to be _after_ he finished law school, not before he ever started so that we'd be more financially sound when we had kids."

"Hmm...Do you think maybe that's why he got the itch to travel so much? He felt tied down before he was ready?"

"The thought certainly has crossed my mind a few times over the years," she confessed with a grim tight-lipped expression. "Now more than ever with this case we're on, especially with the way Emily talked about how adamant Lorelai was that she wasn't going to marry Christopher. While Emily seems...I don't know...a bit high-strung, I can't help remembering what she said, 'When you get pregnant, you get married' because that was pretty much my thinking when I married Joe; that it was just the right thing to do. But what if I hadn't? What if I'd decided to go it alone like Lorelai? While it's still somewhat frowned upon, it was during the height of the sexual revolution when I got pregnant, so it wouldn't have been all that shocking for me to decide to be a single mom to my baby. What if-"

"I think the big difference there is that you had loving, supportive parents to back you up," Lee interrupted her ramble. "I mean, look at just today and how your mom has no problem looking after Phillip and Jamie for you while you're gone and how many times has she stepped in like that when you and I have been out of town...or just plain in hot water where you couldn't get home to the kids?"

"Yes, but she always assumes I'm having some crazy, clandestine love affair when I don't come home as planned," she reminded him with a laugh.

He grinned at her and reached for her hand. "Who knows? After this weekend, maybe you will be," he teased. "We _are_ sharing a room, after all."

"We'll just have to see what happens on that front," she replied with a flirtatious smile as she squeezed his hand. "My mother would certainly be thrilled by it."

"Which brings me back to my point; your mother supports whatever decisions you make in your life. Sure, she may not always approve and may ask you a lot of probing questions, but still...she always supports you. I get the impression that Lorelai never had that. As for the other part, knowing you the way I do, I just can't see you making another choice. Besides, you ended up being a single mom anyway, so what difference would it really have made? Joe still left to do his own thing like it seems this Hayden kid is."

"Hmmm..." She turned her attention back to the file, her thoughts in a whirl.

"What?"

"What you just said...about Christopher Hayden and what you said in the office about him. Maybe he _did_ lie to the police about knowing where she was."

He cast another sideways glance at her and could almost see the wheels turning in her head. "Oh no," he groaned. "I know that look. You wanna' stop in Hartford, don't you?"

"Well, I'm thinking...Lorelai doesn't know us, so we may not be able to talk her into contacting her parents, but she _does_ know him."

"In more ways than one," Lee jibed.

"Would you behave?" She rolled her eyes and continued with her thoughts, "What I was thinking was that even if he was honest with the police and really doesn't know where she is, maybe he'd like to. After all, Rory is his daughter too and maybe...I don't know...maybe he'd like to see her and maybe he would be able to convince Lorelai to talk to her parents better than we could. He did want to marry her, didn't he?"

"Or maybe he _didn't_ really want to marry her and like you said, it was the right thing to do so he only asked her out of obligation. I mean, the kid was sixteen too just like Lorelai. Do you honestly think that if Joe wasn't ready to be a husband and father at twenty-two that this kid was ready at age sixteen?"

"But don't you think it's worth at least checking into?"

"Not really," he sighed. "But obviously you do, so I guess we're stopping in Hartford."

She beamed at him. "Thank you."

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Standing outside the Hayden estate, Lee let out a low whistle while Amanda stated, "This place looks more like a mausoleum than a house."

Lee reached for her hand. "Are you still sure you want to do this?"

She squeezed his hand in return. She had to admit that it did look a bit daunting, but when had that ever stopped them during an investigation? With a firm nod she replied confidently, "Absolutely. I mean, who knows? Maybe Christopher is the reason she ran away, not her parents. The more we know before we see her, the better off we'll be."

"Okay," he replied skeptically. He released her hand and rang the doorbell. "But I can bet with people like this, we won't get to talk to more than a maid or a butler."

To his surprise, the door was opened by Christopher himself. When he saw Lee holding up his Agency badge, he sputtered, "Uh….uh…hi." He glanced nervously behind him and in a hushed tone, inquired, "You're here about Lorelai, aren't you?"

"Christopher, Dear, who is it?" Francine Hayden's voice sounded from the foyer. "And why are you answering the door? Why didn't you let the maid get it?"

"The maid's busy serving dinner, Mom," Chris answered with a shrug.

"Well, who has the bad taste to visit during dinner hours?" She yanked the door all the way open and looked Lee and Amanda up and down.

Despite the sneer on the other woman's face, Amanda greeted her pleasantly. "Hello, Mrs. Hayden. I'm Amanda King and this is Lee Stetson. We're investigating-"

"Oh, I can imagine what you're investigating," Mrs. Hayden interrupted, "That _girl_." She made a sour face.

"Mom," Chris groaned at her tone.

"We already told the police and the investigators who were here two weeks ago that we don't know anything about Lorelai, but if you ask me, it's just as well. I told Emily she should have just sent her to one of those places….you know…" She dropped her tone to just above a whisper, "…for girls like that."

"No, I'm afraid I don't know," Amanda replied sharply. "I was under the impression that Christopher and Lorelai were in this together and that there was talk of marriage at one point."

"All talk and only on Emily's side. She wanted my poor boy to grow up way too fast."

"What the hell is going on out here," Straub bellowed as he stomped from the dining room to the foyer. When he reached his destination, he demanded, "Who are you people?"

Lee started again to introduce them, but Chris interrupted, "They're looking for Lorelai."

"You listen to me," Straub began in a huff. "We already told you people we don't know anything more and it's not our fault that the Gilmores can't keep track of their trampy daughter."

Amanda bit back a retort and smiled again. "You may not, but we were hoping that Christopher might know a little more since they were involved once; not only that, but we might actually have figured out where she is and we thought that maybe Christopher would want to know since she does have his child with her."

"If it even is his child. You know how girls like her are. They'll blame any guy around when-"

"Dad, stop!" Chris protested weakly. "Rory _is_ mine!" He turned his attention to Lee and Amanda. "You say you might know where they are?" he questioned with a hopeful note in his voice.

Straub gave Christopher a stern, scolding look. "I say good riddance. Now my son can still have a normal life and put this nasty affair behind him."

"Dad, I-"

"Christopher, go eat your dinner and let the adults handle this," the boy's father barked.

"But isn't _he_ an adult?" Amanda interjected. "He is eighteen, isn't he? I mean, if he wants to see his child, why-"

"Who the hell are you to tell me how to deal with my son?" Straub barked at her.

"Dad, she _is_ your granddaughter…" Chris began, but was silenced by a murderous look from his father.

"Christopher, I said go. I'll deal with this."

"Yes, Sir," the young man replied and hurried away from his father's withering gaze.

"But Straub, Christopher does have a point," Francine countered, a weepy edge in her tone. "She is our-"

"Francine, I'm dealing with this and don't you start your damned crying again."

Francine cowered under her husband's stern glare and his admonishing tone and merely sniffled.

"As for you two, don't come around here again. That girl has been nothing but trouble since this whole travesty began and-"

"Travesty?" Amanda interrupted. "Excuse me, but I know this must have come as a surprise to you since Christopher and Lorelai are so young, but a child is _never_ a travesty."

"Do you know how hard it's been?" Francine chimed in. "How embarrassing it's been to face all our friends now that they…they _know_? And with Emily Gilmore parading that baby around at her Christmas party as if she were proud of it."

"Well, of course she would be," Amanda replied, trying to remain hopeful despite the attitude coming from the Haydens. "The children may have made a mistake, but that's no reason she or you, for that matter, shouldn't enjoy your granddaughter."

"Why the hell should we? The Gilmore girl has ruined our son for the rest of his life."

"How do you figure when he's not taking on a bit of responsibility for his child?" Lee huffed, his temper flaring at their dismissal of their son's part in the whole thing. He'd seen Amanda struggle as a single mother for three years now and that was with her ex-husband paying child support. He could only imagine how hard it must be for Lorelai being alone with a baby.

"It's like my wife said, it's been a nightmare facing our friends, my colleagues, my clients…"

"But there is a baby to consider-"Amanda began, but was cut off again.

"I've said what I had to say on the subject…and so have you," Straub stated adamantly to his wife before turning his attention back to Lee and Amanda. "If you or your people disturb my household again, I'll be talking to my attorney. This is bordering on harassment. Good day." He slammed the door leaving Lee and Amanda staring at one another in stunned silence.


	5. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

As they walked down the Haydens' driveway, Lee saw how much the conversation with them had bothered her. He reached for her hand and linked his fingers with hers. "And you thought our Francine was bad," he joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

She let out a dry chuckle as he opened the passenger door of the 'Vette for her and helped her in. "I promise, I'll never complain about her again."

Lee laughed as he got into the driver's side. "Somehow I doubt that. She'll make one of her patented sarcastic comments and it'll get you two kicking the verbal ball around again."

"Okay, you're probably right," Amanda sighed. "But maybe I should buy her another box of chocolates just to let her know that I appreciate her not being like _that_." She gave a nod to the house as Lee started the car and pulled away. "I find it so sad that they want nothing to do with their own grandchild."

"I can relate to that," Lee commented with a hint of sadness in his tone, both at the memories of his own childhood and that his attempt to cheer her up hadn't lasted long.

"I know you can," she absently patted his arm comfortingly, knowing all too well how strained his relationship with his uncle and only living family member was. "I can too, but in a different way."

"Oh?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow. "How so? Your mom is just as much involved in your kids' lives as you are."

Amanda nodded in agreement. "Oh, she is, absolutely and so was my dad when he was still with us when the boys were little. It's their other grandparents I was referring to. They don't really visit them much since the divorce, not that they really did when Joe and I were still married. They usually expected us to come to their house...you know, for holidays and such... They do send gifts for Phillip and Jamie...for birthdays and Christmas, but they don't come to their birthday parties or any of their school events or Little League games...or-or-or...anything. I doubt they even know how old the boys are now." She let out a deep sigh. "You know, talking to Francine Hayden just now, it was almost like talking to my ex-mother-in-law again. She was always a bit...well, a bit snobbish. Not only that, but very much like Mr. and Mrs. Hayden are with Lorelai, I think she blamed me for getting pregnant and 'ruining' their son's life."

"Huh," was Lee's only reply at Amanda's revelations. He'd always assumed that she'd had the perfect suburban life prior to Joe starting the job that took him away from his family, but listening to her talk, he realized how stupid that sounded. Obviously, if they'd gotten divorced, there had to be more to it. While he'd balked at taking this case, he couldn't help thinking that it was definitely helping him to achieve his goal of getting to know more about her without even really trying. He finally spoke up again with a sympathetic, "I'm sorry to hear that. People like that make me crazy."

She looked at him curiously. "Really?" she questioned disbelievingly. "I'm surprised to hear you say that. I thought fancy parties and hobnobbing with the idle rich was right up your alley. In fact, I've been wondering just what you see in a simple housewife like me."

"Okay, first of all, there is _nothing_ simple about you. You're the most complicated damn woman I've ever known. Second, I hate people like that. I always have, but in this business, you can't help having to be at least somewhat involved with the movers and shakers of the world."

"Oh, come on!"

"No, Amanda, it's true. You've only been with the Agency for three years and you've already experienced it for yourself."

"What? You're crazy. I don't hang out with people like that."

"No?"

"No," she stated firmly.

"Okay, who has the princess of Zakir as a pen pal?"

"Well, that was different. She was lonely, despite being married to a prince. Besides, she married into that life and she hated a lot of it and really needed a friend."

"Alright, then how about Princess Valosky?"

"You can't count her either," Amanda argued. "I didn't even meet her through the Agency. I just went to her estate sale and she seemed...I don't know...like she needed help."

"Which she did, but still you charmed the pants right off of her before you even knew she was a princess and aren't you still keeping in contact with her too?"

"Okay, yes, but it's hardly the same thing as what you're talking about."

"How about this then? The Prime Minister of Estoccia invited you to their big Independence Day party a couple of months from now, didn't he?"

"You were invited too," she argued.

"I was invited because I helped him solve the mystery of the disappearing aid to his country. You were invited because you were so friendly to him."

"Oh, stop, I helped with that case too. Joe was in trouble, remember? Besides, he's really more Joe's friend than mine."

"Hmm..." He thought for a moment and then grinned at her before turning his eyes back to the road. "I got a good one. Prince Terry of Cap D'Far."

"What?" she rolled her eyes. "That was definitely different. I just saw him as a scared little boy and I know he's not really little since he's a teenager, but when he was being followed...well, being a mother to two boys myself, I just jumped in when I saw that he needed help." She gave Lee a slight smile as she thought of just how often she'd seen that same 'scared little boy' look on his face.

"As only you can," he chuckled as he recalled her wildly swinging her purse at Terry's would-be assailant. "And made a fast friend of his father, King Eddie, in the process and his mother, the former queen."

"You're really exaggerating now. If anyone's a close friend to King Eddie, it's Billy. As for Sandra, she and I connected because I know what it's like to be a single mom. Besides that, she really wasn't a queen anymore or for that matter, queen-like at all. I admit that I was a bit awed when I realized she was once a soap star too, but that was years ago and the more I talked to her the more I realized that she was just like me, a suburban mom trying to do the best she could for her son, although, I don't agree with her keeping the boy's father from him. I would never do that to Joe."

"No, Joe did that all on his own just like that Hayden kid," Lee muttered and when he caught a scolding look from Amanda out of the corner of his eye, he switched back to the topic at hand, "You're missing my point, Amanda. You were tied in to all these people because of your connection to the Agency."

"Mm-mm," she shook her head. "Not Princess Valosky. The estate sale, remember?"

"Okay, maybe you didn't meet her because of the Agency, but you stayed involved in her life because of the job."

"Well, I don't look at it that way. She was just a very nice lady who needed help."

"The kind of help that only the Agency can offer," he countered. "But all the others, Princess Penny, Terry, Sandra, King Eddie, the Prime Minister...all those came about because of the Agency."

"No, not the Prime Minister. That was because of Joe."

"Because Joe was part of an Agency investigation," he reminded her.

"But who's to say that I wouldn't have met him through Joe anyway, even if I hadn't been working for the Agency?"

"Bo Johnson," Lee put in.

"He turned out to be an attempted murderer," she fired back.

"Randall Skylar."

"I think someone needs to tell him the revolution is over," she laughed.

"True, but still he's a famous musician and you met him because of the Agency."

"I think 'musician' is a bit of a stretch. Have you heard his music?" She shook her head. "The boys love him though."

"So he's not John Lennon, but still, he's a famous person and you met him through the Agency."

"Okay, but I didn't really meet him as much as I did his staff; those people who were working on his charity. I wasn't hanging out with him or anything. Besides, even if I had, it's not as if he'd even know who I was since there were so many people there."

"Okay, maybe not, but you were still around his people...because of the job, which just illustrates my point. Sometimes, we have no choice but to 'hobnob,' to use your word, with people we don't necessarily like for the sake of the job. Look at this case we're on now. Do you really think you would have been consoling someone like Emily Gilmore and offering her Kleenex when she was crying if it weren't for her Agency connection? Would you approach her on the street and say hello to her or be invited to one of her fancy parties?"

"Okay, no, mostly because someone like that wouldn't give someone like me the time of day under normal circumstances."

"Which is exactly my point."

"Hmmm...so, what you're telling me is that in all the time I've known you, you've only gone to all those parties and hung out with all those rich people because of your connection to the Agency?"

"That's right," he asserted.

"And it couldn't have had anything to do with the fact that you enjoyed having all those dumb, bored socialites hanging all over you," she teased.

"Bor _ing_ is more like it," he corrected her. He reached for her hand and added with an affectionate smile, "I have someone much more exciting in my life now."

"Oh, sure," she scoffed. "My PTA meetings and Little League coaching sessions with the Bombers are a thrill a minute for you, I'm sure."

"Beats the hell out of the life I've been living," he responded sincerely.

"Spoken by the man who once said he'd never ever be a Bomber father," she reminded him pointedly as she pulled her hand from his. "You know, if you and I...well, if we do really move forward, you're not just getting me. I have children and that makes me a package deal. You want me, you have to take them too." When he didn't respond, she cast a worried glance at him, wondering if she might have said too much too soon. While they were on the brink of starting something, he hadn't actually said for sure how he really felt about her. She knew that he struggled with openly expressing his emotions because of all he'd been through in his life, but he showed it in other ways and even though he'd never said the words aloud, she was well aware that he was every bit as in love with her as she was with him. The trouble was that they came from vastly different worlds and even though, as he had just pointed out, she had managed to fit in well in his world of spies, intrigue and glamorous parties, she couldn't help the twinge of doubt about how well he'd fit into hers. Could he be happy with a normal, everyday existence or would he one day find her boring as well?

There was silence between them during the remainder of their drive to Stars Hollow, Amanda worrying about what Lee was thinking since she'd brought up her children while Lee was lost in his own thoughts about it. He wondered what she'd meant by it. Did she think he didn't know that she came with strings attached? Did she think he couldn't handle it? Or that he was unwilling to? He'd just been thinking more positively about being on this investigation that he thought they had no business being involved in, but now his thoughts had turned sour again. He'd tried to show her since it started that he didn't at all approve of Christopher Hayden abandoning his child or Joe abandoning his. Didn't she understand that he was trying to tell her that _he_ would never do that to her the way her ex-husband had? He knew that despite having worked together for three years, they were still getting to know one another on a more personal level, but didn't she already know enough about him to know just how important family was to him since he had none; more importantly, that he understood how important family was to her? It was the whole reason he'd reluctantly agreed to take on this case in the first place. He just didn't know what more he could do to prove to her that he was serious about her.


	6. The Lorelais and the Spies

The silence between the partners continued as they checked into the Independence Inn and as they followed the bellboy up to their room. It wasn't until the young man had left and they were alone in their room that the tense standoff was broken by Amanda.

"Okay, I have to know something," she stated in a demanding tone as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. "We were having a very pleasant conversation on the way here from Hartford until I brought up my boys. Why?"

"Amanda…" He let out a deep sigh. "What do you want from me? You made that crack about you being a package deal as if I don't already know that about you. The 'Scarecrow' thing is just a codename, you know, I'm not really brainless."

"I know that, but what I don't know is why you didn't say anything." She was suddenly feeling very awkward about having agreed to share a room with him under the circumstances and couldn't help thinking it was too soon to take that big step if she didn't know that she could count on him in the long run. "Before we take things any further, I need to know if this is something you can accept. I can't risk bringing another man into my boys' lives who won't be there for them, not after Joe has been absent from their lives so much or what happened when I broke up with Dean. Why do you think I don't let my dates come to the house anymore?"

"Oh, you mean you might actually let me pick you up at the house for a real date instead of hiding me in the backyard?"

"That was your doing, not mine! You're the one who always said they couldn't know about you because it was safer that way with what you do for a living-"

"You mean what _we_ do," he cut in. "You're every bit as involved with the Agency as I am now.

"Maybe that's true, but you're missing my point. If we're really going to do this; start seeing each other regularly like I think we both want to, I can't keep you hidden from them forever."

"Don't you think we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here? I mean, I know we've been on a few casual dates, but come on, Amanda, we've known each other for three years and just now kissed for the first time a few days ago when it was just about the two of us and not for a cover."

"Oho, you didn't seem to think we were getting ahead of ourselves at the office when I told you I was okay sharing a room with you and even hinted that I might be willing to sleep with you this weekend. That's a huge deal for me. I'm not like you. I don't sleep with just anyone, not unless I feel there's some kind of commitment and the way you talked about getting to know me more about me the other day, it sounded like that was what you wanted."

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean? I don't sleep with just anyone either. As for a commitment, that was exactly what I meant. I am not seeing anyone else, nor do I want to. I only want you, but if you think I can't handle dealing with your kids, maybe this isn't such a good idea. This...this is why Harry always told me I should never get involved with anyone I work with."

"Maybe we shouldn't be involved then. Maybe we should keep it strictly business from now on."

"Maybe we should, but maybe-" Their argument was interrupted by a knock on the door. "We are not done talking about this," he hissed as he opened the door to find the object of their search on the other side dressed in a maid's uniform.

"Uh…hi…" While he recognized the girl from her photo in their Agency file, he scanned her nametag to avoid giving themselves away before they knew what her demeanor might be. "Uh…Lorelai…" He gestured for Amanda to join him.

"Hi," Lorelai replied cordially. "I'm going off-duty soon so I was just making my final rounds to see if anybody needed anything, extra towels, coffee for the morning, shampoo, stuff like that."

"Amanda?" He shot her a questioning look.

"Um…not at the moment since we just checked in, but if we need anything, we'll just call down to the front desk," Amanda responded with a warm smile in Lorelai's direction.

"Okay," Lorelai nodded. "I'll see you in the morning when I come by to work on your room then. Have a good evening."

Once she'd departed, Amanda commented, "Well, she seems to be more pleasant than her mother, at least."

"Or maybe she's just doing her job," Lee countered.

"Like we should be doing," she reminded him.

"Yeah. The job," he replied morosely. He'd gotten so excited about the idea of spending a whole weekend alone with Amanda, he'd only given the most fleeting thought to their investigation and had allowed his partner to really do all the investigating. He shook his head at his own stupidity for allowing that to happen when he was the senior agent and should be leading, not following. "Speaking of which, Lorelai must be working off the books," Lee surmised in an attempt to keep things to strictly business as Amanda had suggested.

"Right, just like we thought," Amanda nodded in agreement. "She said she was going off-duty soon so maybe we'll have a chance to talk to her tonight and we won't actually need to stay." She frowned at that thought because she'd really been looking forward to getting closer to her stoic partner, but now she wasn't so sure it was a good idea.

"Right. It's not that long a drive back to D.C. If we can get her to agree to contact her parents, we can wrap this up and be back on the road and you can get back to your kids just in time to say goodnight to them."

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When the door of the potting shed was opened, Amanda smiled kindly at the young girl standing there, still in her maid's uniform after finishing her shift, baby perched on her hip. "Miss Gilmore?" she inquired while Lee dug for his badge.

"Who wants to know?" Lorelai questioned as she eyed the pair suspiciously. She had just seen them less than an hour ago when checking on their room and now, here they were knocking on her door. What kind of guests were they?

Holding out his badge, Lee answered, "I'm Lee Stetson and this is Amanda King. We're here beca-"

"Oh, I know why you're here," Lorelai interrupted sullenly as she flounced across the room and put Rory in her crib, handing her a board book to keep her occupied. Once she had her daughter settled, she whipped around to face them. "You're here because good ol' Adolf Gilmore sent you after me!"

"Now, Miss Gilmore, that's not really a nice way to talk about your father," Amanda lightly scolded.

"I was talking about my mother," Lorelai replied with a sarcastic sneer.

"Miss Gilmore-" Lee tried in vain, a bit thrown that the girl who'd been so polite and courteous when calling on their room was now acting like a spoiled brat.

"Enough of this 'Miss Gilmore' crap! It's Lorelai, okay? You were fine with calling me that when I was just a maid to you, so you might as well do it now."

"Yeah, sure...Lorelai," Lee continued, "The reason we're here is that you left your parents' home pretty suddenly and they'd like to know where you are and that you and uh..." Lee hesitated at seeing the murderous look in the young woman's eyes. He nodded to the crib. "You...and your...daughter are safe."

"Don't we look safe?" She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, yes," Amanda confirmed in a more pleasant tone in an attempt to soothe the young mother. "Yes, you do, but it's been five months and your mother and father...well, they haven't heard from you in all that time and they're...you know...just a little worried. I'm sure they'd like to help you too." She gestured to the uniform Lorelai wore. "Maybe so you don't have to work so hard. As a single mother myself, I know how hard it can be raising children all alone."

"Well, you can go back to them and tell them I'm just fine and that I don't need or _want_ their help."

"Don't you think they'd prefer to hear it from you? That you're fine, I mean?"

"I don't care what they'd prefer," Lorelai responded hotly.

"Listen, Lorelai," Amanda explained in her soft, motherly tone. "As I said, I'm a mother too and all I'm saying is that as a mother, my boys are my whole world and if one of them were to disappear the way that you did, I'd be...well, I'd be very upset and I'd do just about anything to know that they were okay...that they were safe. So, if you could just...you know, call your mother...maybe talk to her-"

Lorelai folded her arms across her chest petulantly and argued, "If you're a mother then you should understand my side of things. _My_ mother wasn't letting me even attempt to be a mother to my own daughter." She glanced with a smile at a Rory in her crib who was watching them with her big blue eyes and gave a tiny nod toward her. "She's _my_ whole world. I had to do what was best for her and it isn't being raised by nannies and nurses like I was...never knowing if your parents really care about you or if you're just another status symbol to them."

"Clearly, they care or they wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to find you. After all, a runaway child isn't exactly our forte-" Lee attempted to reason with her.

"I'm _not_ a child," Lorelai countered defensively. "That's what both you and my mother don't understand; I stopped being a child the moment I gave birth to a child of my own, but she still kept treating me as if I were some kid who wasn't capable of looking after my own daughter."

"Well, you're certainly acting like a kid," he argued back.

"Lee!" Amanda hissed at him. "You're not helping." She ran her hand along his arm to soothe him and when it seemed that his irritation had subsided, she turned her attention back to the runaway teenager. "Okay, we get it. You're just trying to do what you feel is best for your daughter." She smiled at the child who was now turning the pages of her book and babbling in baby talk to herself. Amanda found herself momentarily distracted by the little girl's rapt attention to the book and questioned, "She can't actually... _read_ that, can she?"

Lorelai laughed and shook her head. "No, it's just that I've read it to her so many times, she's pretty much got it memorized." She beamed at her daughter proudly. "She's super smart...like _Real Genius_ smart. I mean, she doesn't know all the words yet, but the way she's going, I don't think it will be long." She turned back to Lee and Amanda and inquired, "But somehow, I get the sense that wasn't what you were going to ask me."

"Oh, right, what I was saying is that I understand that you only want the best for Rory."

"I really do," Lorelai stated with a firm nod.

"We get that," Lee swept his arm around the small room Lorelai had made into a home. "But do you really believe that _this_ is it?"

"Now, Lee, it's not so bad," Amanda chimed in. "Joe and I lived in a tiny apartment not much bigger than this when Phillip was a baby."

"And it's a hell of a lot better than how I grew up," Lorelai added. "And I won't put my kid through that. I want her to have her own life and learn to think for herself and be anything she wants to be, not be told how to dress, what to think, what she's supposed to be or do when she grows up-"

"Okay, okay," Amanda conceded. "I understand that you felt oppressed by your parents, but think about it this way. It's obvious that you love Rory very much and you'd do anything for her, right?"

"Damn straight." Lorelai nodded.

"Well, how would you feel if Rory just disappeared on you without a trace...and with no explanation."

"I wrote Richard and Emily a goodbye letter," the younger woman defended herself. "If they'd bothered to read it, they'd know why I left."

"Oh, they did." Amanda pulled the folded letter from her purse, unfolded it and handed it to Lorelai. "As you can see by the permanent creases in it, they read it many times in the hopes that it might give them some clue as to where you'd gone. I know you feel as if they don't care, but would they have really done that if they didn't?"

As she examined the letter, Lorelai couldn't help noticing something else; that it looked as if it were tear-stained as well. She let out a sigh as she gazed at her own penmanship, _Dear Richard and Emily..._ "Okay, you made your point. I'll call my father at his office, okay? Will that make you happy?"

"We-ell," Amanda hesitated. "It's...um...it's your mother I'm more worried about. You see, we spoke to her and the poor woman broke down in tears right in front of us because she misses you so much and she's so very worried about you and your baby and she'd really like to hear from you."

"Oh, no. No, no, no," the younger woman protested. "I am NOT calling her. You've only seen one side of her, you don't know her. She's...she's evil...like Michael Myers evil...or Jason Voorhees evil - No, she's worse...she's Freddy Krueger evil because she creeps into your dreams and sucks all the life out of you. The second I call her, she'll start doing that again when I'm building a life here for myself and my kid. She'll just sink her vicious claws in and start slicing away at my dreams trying to steal my soul."

Lee couldn't help chuckling. "She can't be as bad as all that. I was raised by a career military officer, including mandatory room inspection, wardrobe inspection-"

"Sounds like Emily," the teenage mother interrupted. "You know, the more that I think about it, she's not just Freddy Krueger, or Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers, she's all three rolled into one."

"Whatever you may think of her, she's still your mother and you really should at least show her the courtesy of letting her know that you're safe and alive, don't you think?" Lee argued back. He'd have given anything to have just one more moment with his mother, yet this girl acted like she was glad to be rid of hers.

"Okay, okay. Fine! I'll call her, but I'm NOT telling her where I am."

"I'm sure that at least talking to her would make your mother very happy." Amanda beamed with pride at Lorelai and placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's all she wants."

"Yeah, I guess we'll see," Lorelai said doubtfully, but then because this woman seemed to be genuine in her concern, she added, "As for this place, believe me, I know it's not much, but for now…it's home."

"You can say that again," Lee muttered. "I grew up in Air Force barracks better than this place."

Amanda looked around the room again. "Oh, Lee, it's not so bad. Can't you see how much Lorelai here has tried to make it as homey as possible in such a small space?" She gestured to various things in the room as she spoke. "There's a vase of flowers on the table, a toy chest and bookcase in the corner for Rory, and pretty, flowery wallpaper on the walls."

Lee looked at all the things Amanda pointed at, then glanced at the babbling, smiling girl in her crib and noted to himself that she seemed perfectly happy and healthy. "I can see that," he acknowledged.

"Besides, I don't plan for us to live here forever," Lorelai explained. "I'm already saving as much money as I can so I can buy us a house in the future and I don't plan to be a maid forever either. Mia's already told me that I'm the hardest worker she's got and that as long as I keep working the way I do, I can work my way up. I know I've only worked here a few months, but I can see myself running a place of my own like this one day and I know I didn't get to go to college, but I've got my GED and now that I'm eighteen, I can enroll in some classes here and there to work on that without having to have my parents involved, maybe get a business degree so I can know what's what. It might take me awhile, but that's my goal."

"Maybe when you call your mother, you should share all of that with her," Amanda suggested with a proud smile that the girl was at least thinking and planning ahead. "I'm sure she'd love to hear that you've got some solid plans for your future."

"I doubt that since they aren't _her_ plans," she scoffed. "But that'll have to wait 'til later. It's dinnertime and Rory hasn't been fed yet." She scooped her daughter up who was still clinging to her book and stalked toward the door.


	7. Baby Talk is Cheap

AN: This chapter was a bit tricky with the GG back-story stating that Emily had never seen the potting shed (Emily in Wonderland) yet had visited the Lorelais at the inn (Rory's Birthday Parties) but had never met Mia (The Ins and Outs of Inns). I hope that I covered all these bases in preparing to set up a first meeting between mother and daughter since the elder Lorelai left her family home. Enjoy!

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Once Lorelai had made it clear that she was done talking to them and headed toward the main building, Lee and Amanda glanced at one another in concern before plodding along a ways behind her.

"I don't like this. I don't believe she'll actually contact her parents," Amanda told her partner worriedly.

"I guess that means we're staying after all. So much for getting you home to your kids tonight," Lee grumbled, wondering just how he was going to make it through the night sharing a room with her after the fight they'd had especially when the day had started out so promising.

"Look, I never said I was in a hurry to get home, especially since I went to a lot of trouble to make sure they'd be looked after while I was away. You're the one who assumed that."

"I just figured since you kept bringing up the boys, that's what was more important to you."

She let out a sigh of frustration and explained, "Listen, my boys _are_ important to me and if something major came up with them to the point that it came down to a choice between them and this job, I'd choose them any day of the week, but that doesn't mean that I want to sacrifice living for myself once in awhile when I know they're perfectly fine, especially now that their father's around more."

"Finally," he huffed.

"Yes, finally," she conceded with a sigh. "You weren't wrong in the things you said about him earlier. He hasn't been there for them the way a father should be. It really is about time that he stepped up and did more for them like I've done their whole lives, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still their mother and they do still need things from me. Granted, they don't need me as much as they used to now that they're getting older, Phillip, in particular since he's a teenager now, so I am ready to start relaxing a bit when it comes to them, but if you're not on board…"

He reached for her hand and replied sincerely, "I _am_ on board."

"Good." She gave him a slight smile, but then frowned as she thought of her harsh words to him. "I…um…I'm sorry that I said what I did in our room…you know about you sleeping around. I didn't really mean that. I know it isn't true."

"It's not far from true," he admitted, "I do have a…well…" He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a long breath. "Aw, hell, Amanda, you already know that I have a-a colorful past. I couldn't deny that if I tried, but it was never about just…you know…"

"I know and I'm really, really sorry that I said what I did."

"The thing is, that's all it is…the past." He stopped walking and took her hand in his. "I'm over living that way and I want…I want so much with you, but I-" He broke off as he saw the anticipation in her eyes, not sure how to say what was really on his mind. Was he ready to lay his feelings on the line this soon?

"I know, but the fact that we had a fight about it…" She hung her head in disappointment, but then shook her head, looked back up at him and plunged on, "Well, I think that means that we're not really ready to take that next step in our relationship…not that I don't still want to, but I think…I think it would just complicate things too much at this point."

He squeezed her hand and urged her toward the inn with him. "Amazingly, we actually agree on something for once when it comes to our relationship," he confessed as they re-entered the inn's main building.

"Yeah?" she replied curiously, thinking he'd argue with her about it.

"Yeah," he nodded. "So, I guess we'll have to get you another room." He gestured toward the front desk with his free hand.

"No, we don't. I never said we couldn't still share a room," she pointed out. "I mean, we've done it before when we've been undercover."

"And nearly came to blows a time or two when there was only one bed," he reminded her as he reflected back on a particular weekend less than a year into their partnership when she'd smacked him with her purse. "You did notice that our room upstairs only had one bed, right?"

"Okay, yes, but we've come so far since then and we weren't…you know…seeing each other outside of work then either like we are now, but if you think you can't control yourself if you're sharing a bed with me, then-"

"Oh, I can control myself just fine." His face split into a wide grin as he slipped one arm around her. "The question is, can you?"

"It's like I told you when Penny was around; you're not _that_ cute," she teased.

He couldn't help laughing, glad the tension was broken between them. "So, you did."

She gestured toward the dining room where Lorelai was now getting Rory set up in a high chair. "Come on, I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat."

"And maybe talk to a certain stubborn teen mom while we're at it?" he suggested.

"You read my mind." They walked into the dining room together and approached Lorelai's table. "Excuse me, Lorelai?"

The younger woman looked up at them and snapped, "What now? I already told you I'd call Herr Gilmore, didn't I?"

"Oh, yes," Amanda smiled. "Yes, you did. We were just wondering…you know, since you not only work here, but live here too…well, we were wondering if you could maybe give us a recommendation on what's good to eat here. You see, it's an awfully long drive here from D.C. and we ate a very early lunch between trying to get on the road and then stopping in Hartford on the way and-"

"Hartford?" Lorelai questioned. "Let me guess, to be given your marching orders by Hartford's own Emily Post. I bet she even told you just how to 'handle' me, what to say to me and how to say it. I can even imagine she urged you to drag me home kicking and screaming if you had to."

"Um…no," Lee replied as he sat across from her while Amanda took the seat beside her. "We didn't go to see your mother. In fact, she came to our office. That's how we got involved in this."

"And she didn't tell us what to say or do when she did. As a matter of fact, our boss wanted to be done with this investigation, but it's like I told you earlier, I'm a mom too. And as a mom, I couldn't let this go, not when I saw how upset your mother was and how much she was missing you."

Lorelai snorted in disgust. "Missing controlling my life, you mean, telling me what to wear, what to say, how to behave…"

"But don't all parents do that to a point?" Lee countered.

"Okay, sure, but most don't tell you whether or not you should breastfeed your child or don't even let you change your own baby's diaper or pick out her clothes or dress her or-"

"I'm sure she was just trying to help you learn how to be a good mom," Amanda attempted to soothe the young mother.

"But she didn't, okay! I didn't learn a damn thing from not being allowed to be anywhere near my daughter most of the time. Why do you think I left? I had to learn how to be a mother and I couldn't do that with her mothering me!" When Rory started to fuss at her mother's raised voice, Lorelai took a deep breath to calm herself and reached for her daughter and held her close, crooning soft words to her to calm her down. Once the fussing subsided, in a cooler tone, she asked, "So, if you weren't in Hartford to see Her Royal Smugness, what were you there for?"

"We wanted to talk to Christopher," Amanda replied honestly. "We'd already figured out where you were and we thought that maybe…well, since he's the baby's father that he might want to see her."

"Fat chance!" Lorelai argued.

"But didn't he ask you to marry him?"

"No, that was totally my father's idea. You should have heard him once he knew I was pregnant, making plans for us, how we were going to get married and live at their house and Chris was going to go work for his company, blah, blah, blah. He never once considered asking either of us what we wanted, if we were ready to get married, if Chris wanted to go to work for him or if we wanted to live with them. I told him that I absolutely was not going to marry Christopher when it was clearly not what he wanted. Even after Rory was born, what he actually said was 'I guess we should get married' and even then, it was more like someone saying 'I guess since I had a heart attack, I should eat more healthy food,' like he was trying to fix a problem that had already happened. I didn't want that because it wouldn't have worked out. No one should get married if their heart isn't really in it."

"I can't say I disagree with you there," Amanda acknowledged. "If you had married before you were ready, chances are good that it wouldn't have lasted."

Lorelai looked at her curiously. "You sound like you know a little something about that."

"I do," the older woman admitted. "So, here's what I'm thinking. Why don't we all just have a nice dinner together and I'll tell you all about it, then after dinner, you can call your mom and arrange for her to come meet us here and if you need us to, Lee and I can stick around to…I don't know…be a buffer if you think you need it."

Lorelai's eyes lit up. "You'd do that for me?" She eyed Amanda skeptically and questioned, "But why? You don't know me or anything about me other than what Emily's told you and I'm sure that wasn't very flattering."

"Because I know what it's like to make a choice like that. I wasn't a teenager, but I was a pretty young mom and single too when I found out I was expecting my older boy. What do you say; do you think you can trust us enough to help you through this?"

She nodded. "Yeah." She tapped the menu. "The grilled pork chops. They're incredible. They're the Sistine Chapel of pork products."

"What?" Lee blinked in confusion.

Without hesitation, Amanda explained, "She's answering the question I asked earlier about what's good to eat here."

He shook his head. He should have guessed that Amanda would find a kindred spirit in this case she'd roped him into taking on against his will, but still he couldn't help smiling that they were at least close to resolving both the case and how to move forward with their personal relationship.

After they'd ordered their own dinner, Lee and Amanda turned their attention back to the young mother. "Just so we're clear," Lee began. "You are agreeing to talk to your mother face-to-face." The last thing they needed was to get on Dr. Smyth's bad side, especially since he'd seemed so annoyed by Amanda insisting on taking this case.

Lorelai nodded. "Yes, but if you're really serious about helping me, can I ask you just one favor?"

"Anything," Amanda answered immediately, while Lee shot her a perturbed look.

"I don't know about anything," he chimed in skeptically, wondering what the young girl was up to. His face softened though when he saw her expression change from one of challenging overconfidence to one of nervousness.

"Could…uh…could you guys be the ones to call her and set it up?" she stammered awkwardly. "I mean, with…with the way I left, I…" She let out a sigh. "I don't know if she'll even let me get a word in without hanging up on me…or yelling at me…or-"

"Oh, I'm sure that's not true," Amanda crooned in a consoling tone. "If you could see how upset she was when she talked about how much she missed you, I'm sure you'd understand just how much she wants to talk to you."

"Please," Lorelai pleaded. "I promise I'll let her come here and I'll talk to her, but I-I just need…I guess I need someone else to talk to her first…sort of pave the way for me. Can you do that?" She swallowed hard as she thought of how her mother would react to her working as a maid, then another horrible thought struck her, how might she treat Mia if she met her once she knew that the older woman had taken her in and not only given her that job, but a place to live as well? She'd probably lay all the blame on Mia for her not coming home. She couldn't let that happen. She'd have to make sure they set it up for a time when Mia would be gone for the day. "And one other thing, since I work tomorrow, can we…uh…can we set it up for dinnertime…you know, here in the dining room, like now? She'll be less likely to make a scene if we're in front of other people and I can't have her doing something that would get me fired while I'm working."

Amanda stared at Lorelai thoughtfully, sure that there was something worrying her that she wasn't saying, but since they'd finally gained her trust a bit and she recalled with vivid clarity the scene Emily had made at the office earlier in the day, she decided not to push it. "Of course we'll try, but that's only if we can get your mother to agree to it."

"Well, here's the thing," Lorelai's expression hardened again. "Tell her if it doesn't happen on my terms, it doesn't happen at all. I don't need her in my life. I've done just fine on my own for the past five months and as long as I keep working hard, I'll keep doing just fine."

Lee and Amanda glanced at each other for a moment, Lee with a questioning gaze and when Amanda returned a look of acquiescence, he nodded to Lorelai with a sigh and replied, "If that's the way it has to be, fine."

"Thank you," Lorelai replied gratefully before turning her gaze back to Amanda, "So, you said you were going to tell me your story, how you knew what kind of decision I had to make."

"So I did," Amanda responded and launched into a retelling of the story she'd told Lee earlier, hoping that it would help the younger woman to trust her a bit more.


	8. Gilmore to the Point

Once they were back in their room and alone together again after their dinner with Lorelai, the awkwardness between Lee and Amanda returned. Amanda had immediately crossed the room to begin unpacking since they'd had no chance to do so when they'd first arrived.

"I…uh…I guess we should…" Lee swallowed hard and gestured to the bed. "Uh…you know, get ready to turn in for the night."

Amanda had to stifle a laugh because his nervousness reminded her of her own battle with nerves that long-ago night when they'd first had to share a hotel room for a case and they'd pretended to be newlyweds. "Lee…" she began softly as she paused in her task to meet him and reached for his hand. "You don't need to be nervous," she attempted to comfort him as she lightly squeezed his hand.

"N-nervous," he stammered as he pulled his hand from hers, not sure he could handle her touch at the moment. He shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm not nervous. I mean, why should I be? It's not as if we've never shared a room before, right?"

Amanda rolled her eyes at him attempting to revert back to his old mode of serious denial. Unwilling to let him backpedal again, she firmly took both of his hands in hers, looked him square in the eyes and replied, "But, we both know it's different this time. I know we've been flirting for awhile and on some casual, no-pressure dates, but ever since you locked the door to our office the other day; when you kissed me the way you did-"

"You kissed me back if I recall," he cut in.

"I did," she replied with an affectionate smile. "And I don't regret that for one second, but ever since that happened and since you said what you said about getting to really know me…well, that changed things between us." When he nodded in acknowledgment, she went on, "But that's not a bad thing…or at least I don't think it is. And this…" she nodded to the one bed in the room. "It doesn't have to be a big deal. Like you said, it's not as if we've never shared a room before…or for that matter, spent the night in each other's arms. I'm sure you remember the night we spent in the swamp all huddled together just trying to stay warm."

"Yeah, I do," he responded in a low, husky voice as he also recalled having quite a vivid dream that night that he was sure was a result of having her so close all night. "But I wasn't really thinking about us sharing a bed as much as I was about what comes before…you know…getting undressed for bed." He was on board with their mutual decision to wait awhile longer before consummating their relationship, but he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to control his physical response to her if he were to watch her get undressed and had been trying to figure out a tactful way to broach the subject without causing her…or himself…any embarrassment.

"Ohhhh," she responded as realization struck. "Well, there is a bathroom if you're worried about that. We can just take turns using it to change if that will make you more comfortable."

He breathed a sigh of relief that she was being so understanding. "Yeah, I think that would be good." He released her hands and gestured toward the smaller room. "Why don't you go first since you're half-unpacked already?"

"No, I think you should go first because one of us still has to call Emily Gilmore and I think that will go a lot better if I do that…you know, talk to her and ease her into it, one mother to another."

He nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right." He crossed the room to reach for his suitcase, extremely grateful that he'd had the foresight to pack pajamas since he'd been so unsure of whether or not he should take her flirting at the office seriously. When he turned back to face Amanda, he saw that she already had the Gilmore file in hand and was perusing it, he assumed looking for the Gilmores home number. "So, I…uh…I'll just see you in a bit."

"Yeah," she replied absently without looking up as she looked for Emily's contact information. Once she found what she was looking for she quickly dialed and when Emily came to the phone, she greeted her pleasantly, "Hi, Emily. It's Amanda…King. I have some good news for you regarding your daughter.

"You found her and you're bringing her home?" Emily asked excitedly.

"Oh no, not quite that good, I'm afraid. I mean, we _did_ find her, but as I told you this morning, we can't force her to come home to you, but we did work out a compromise that I'm sure you'll both be happy with." She wasn't yet ready to reveal to Emily Gilmore where Lorelai was until she knew the woman would agree to her daughter's terms.

"Compromise?" Emily questioned warily. "What kind of compromise could possibly be reached between her coming home and not coming home? There is no compromise there and I distinctly recall telling you just this morning that I wanted you to bring her home. Isn't that your job?"

"No, Emily, it's not," Amanda gently explained. "Our job was to find her and we did that, but if you're not interested in seeing her based on the terms she's outlined, I'm afraid that I won't be able to help you anymore. I can't violate her right to privacy."

" _Her_ rights?" Emily questioned hotly. "What about my right to know that my daughter and granddaughter are safe and alive?"

"Please understand that while I sympathize with your situation as a mother myself, since Lorelai is legally an adult, you really don't have that right any longer…or for that matter, your granddaughter since she is Lorelai's child, not yours."

"Well, that's just ridiculous!" Emily snapped. "I demand that you tell me where my daughter is!"

"Ridiculous or not, that's just how it is," Amanda responded, still keeping an even tone in an attempt to avoid upsetting the other woman any more than she already was. "As for telling you where she is, as I already said, I can't and won't do that until I have your assurance that you'll agree to a few things that she asked for. She's agreed to see you, but only on her terms."

Emily snorted. "I might've known that daughter of mine would pull some kind of petty extortion like this." She thought for a moment about the situation and came to the conclusion that it would be better to agree to Lorelai's demands and at least have the peace of mind to know where she was than to continue not knowing anything at all. Sighing in resignation, she inquired, "What terms?"

Amanda explained precisely what Lorelai had asked for and once Emily agreed, she finally gave her the location and directions to get there, setting up a specific time for them to meet.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After hanging up with the agent working Lorelai's case, Emily rose from her normal perch in her living room armchair, walked to the bar and poured herself a double scotch on the rocks, quickly downing half of it just as she heard her husband's voice from the foyer.

"Emily, I'm home!" he called.

She took a deep breath to steel herself for greeting him after the stressful day she'd had. Pasting on a bright smile as he entered the living room, she greeted him with, "Hello, Richard. How was your trip to the New York office?"

"Fine, fine," he answered. "But I'm going to have to get with the finance manager to get him to have a talk with the financial institution that provides our corporate credit cards. I received the strangest call this afternoon that my secretary forwarded from my main office about my card being used for flights to and from Washington, D.C. and for cab fare in D.C. They were concerned because I had just used it a couple of days ago to book my round-trip flight to New York. So, of course, I had to explain to those imbeciles that I could hardly travel to two places at once."

Emily cringed. She'd hoped that her use of his company credit card would skate by unnoticed since her husband never dealt with things as trivial as the office credit card bills. That's why the company had an entire finance team to handle such matters.

Her change in expression did not go unnoticed by her astute husband. "Emily…" he began in a warning tone. "What did you do?"

"Well, you gave me an extra card in case an emergency should arise while you're off on one of your business trips, don't you remember?" she defended herself.

"What on earth kind of emergency could you have had that required a trip to D.C and back? Did the DAR suddenly find some heretofore unknown relic that may or may not have belonged to someone of historical significance?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Richard," she sniped. "This was much more important than that."

"I should hope so considering that I have to account for every penny I spend on that card," he responded in a huff. "Emily, what were you thinking about spending that kind of money on a whim?"

"It was hardly a whim. This wasn't some frivolous expense, Richard; this was about our daughter. Just after you left for your trip yesterday, I got a call from those useless federal agents your friend put onto the task of finding Lorelai and our granddaughter."

"I need a drink for this," Richard shook his head and marched to the bar. As he tossed ice cubes into a glass more forcefully than necessary, he demanded, "So, let me guess, you felt the need to fly to D.C to harass Austin about it? And might I remind you, he's _our_ friend, not just mine."

"Oh, please," she scoffed. "He's a work associate of yours. I'd have never met him if not for you. Besides, if he were that good a friend, he'd have put his best on the job to begin with."

"Emily, did it ever cross your mind that perhaps he has a budget to contend with on the job?" He questioned and then added with a pointed look, "As do I."

"That's beside the point. My trip to 'harass' him, as you put it, worked out for the best. He finally put a pair of competent agents on Lorelai's case and they found her in a matter of hours."

Richard paused mid-pour, his eyes widening in surprise. "They found her that quickly; after all these months of dead ends?"

"Yes, and not far from here…in a little town called Stars Hollow, about a thirty-minute drive away."

"Does that mean she'll be coming home soon?" he inquired while trying not to get too excited by the possibility since he knew all too well how strong-willed and stubborn Lorelai was, much like the woman she was named for, his own mother.

"No," she replied sadly. "But she has agreed to see us and maybe once we get there, we'll be able to talk her into coming home."

With a shake of his head, Richard finished pouring his drink, took a sip of it and replied skeptically, "I wouldn't get your heart set on that idea, Emily. She's been gone for five months now and not once in that time has she tried to contact us."

"I know, but her being willing to see us is a start, isn't it?"

"Agreed, but promise me you won't badger her like you normally do. No talk of coming home and for God's sake, no more talk of her marrying Christopher. While you and I both agree that would be the best thing to do and what she should have done two years ago when we learned she was pregnant, that will only set her off again."

"Christopher," she snorted. "I can assure you that won't be an issue. After I ran my normal errands when I got back from Washington, I returned home today to a rather nasty message on the answering machine from Straub. Those new agents on the case apparently tried to question Christopher, but you know how they are when it comes to their precious boy." She was still bitter about the "girls like that" crack Francine had made when discussing their children's situation and her suggestion of sending Lorelai away. She supposed it all turned out the same though; Lorelai had chosen to send herself away from her own family.

"Be that as it may, I don't think the subject of Christopher should be brought up at all. It only serves to make her angry and irrational. We don't want her taking off again, do we?"

Emily sighed. As much as she wanted her daughter home and wished Lorelai would concede and do the right thing by her own daughter, she knew her more practical husband was right. If they put too much pressure on Lorelai, she just might run again and much farther away than Stars Hollow. "I promise, I'll be on my best behavior."

"Thank you," he responded, but he didn't quite believe it. If his wife was desperate enough to use his company card behind his back, what would she do once she was face-to-face with their runaway daughter again?


	9. When Your (Relation)ship Comes In

Lee emerged from the bathroom dressed for bed just as Amanda was wrapping up her call with Emily Gilmore. "You all finished?" she asked.

He nodded and gestured to the phone, "What did she have to say?"

"Well, as I expected, she wasn't very happy when I told her that Lorelai didn't plan on going home, but she did agree to her daughter's terms and as Lorelai requested, I set up a dinner meeting for tomorrow."

"Which means we have a lot of time to kill," he replied with a flirtatious smile as he sat beside her on the bed.

Picking up on his cues, she responded, "Just what on earth will we do to pass the time?"

He softly kissed her lips and then whispered in her ear, "I'm sure we can think of something if we put our heads together." He bent to lightly nuzzle her neck, testing the waters to see if she might have had second thoughts like he had about waiting.

She was just reaching for him when they were interrupted by an insistent knocking on the door. "It never fails, does it?" She shook her head.

"Never. You'd think on an out-of-towner, we'd at least get a little peace."

"Oh, I know just what you want a 'piece' of," she teased as she rose from the bed, walked to the door and opened it to find a panicked Lorelai on the other side.

The young woman barreled into the room and began in a flurry, "I can't do it. I just can't let them come here. It's like inviting a vampire into your house – of course, when you don't know they're a vampire, 'cause who would really be dumb enough to do that if they knew – but you know, once you invited them in, that gives them free rein to do whatever they want to you and they usually want to just suck all the life out of you. My parents are just like that, especially my mother and I just know the second she's here, she'll-"

"Lorelai, Sweetheart, it's okay," Amanda told her in a soothing tone. "You can calm down. I just spoke with your mother and she's agreed to meet on your terms."

"Oh, God, you already called her? Call her back and tell her it's off…seriously, I can't have her here. I finally have a life that I've been building for myself and for Rory and I can't let her destroy that."

"Speaking of…" Lee interjected. "Where is Rory?"

"She's sound asleep in her crib. One of the night housekeepers is looking after her for me."

"Well, that's very nice of her to do," Amanda commented. "But this thing with you parents, you really shouldn't work yourself up like this. I already told your mother that you aren't planning to come home. Plus, remember, Lee and I will be with you every second."

"Right," Lee agreed. "If things get out of hand, we'll be right there to step in." He wasn't thrilled with the idea of playing moderator to a runaway teen mom and her uppity mother, but he knew they had a job to do and he also knew that if anyone could keep the bloodshed down to a minimum, it was his much cooler-headed partner. "If anyone is good at diffusing volatile situations, it's us. Not to brag, but we're generally considered to be the best team in our office."

She eyed them both warily. "Are you sure you really want to do this?" She thought about what Lee had said earlier about living in the potting shed and he didn't even know her. She could only imagine what her mother, who'd made a career out of telling her that nothing she did was good enough, might think. "I mean, what I said earlier about inviting a vampire into your house, it's really true when it comes to Emily Gilmore – and I know this isn't really my house, but I've made a home for Rory and me here, so it feels like it is…for now anyway…at least until I can afford to buy us a real one."

"Yes, we really are," Amanda assured her. "If it makes you feel better, why don't we all meet for breakfast in the morning before you have to work and we can sit down and strategize exactly what you're going to say to your mother when you see her? How does that sound?"

She breathed a sigh of relief, "Sounds good."

"Good. We'll see you in the morning then," Amanda patted her shoulder and led her to the door. "You really should get some sleep if you want to be ready to face your parents with a clear head."

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks."

"My pleasure," Amanda replied as she closed the door with a sigh. "This may be harder than I thought."

"Hey…" Lee took her hands in his. "If anyone can handle this, it's you. You know how good you are at talking people off the ledge. Look what you just did there. She came in here climbing the walls and you got her to calm down and think rationally.

"Yeah, but what if she's right? What if Emily just comes in here tomorrow and tries to take over again?"

"We won't let her and more importantly, I get the sense that Lorelai won't either. Like she said, she's got a life for herself here and plans for her future as well as her daughter's. I don't think she's willing to let anything get in the way of that."

"You're right. I'm probably worrying for nothing." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I…uh…" She gestured to the bathroom. "I should get ready for bed too."

"It's all yours," he replied.

She nodded, reached for the overnight bag that she hadn't yet unpacked and hurried to the bathroom, quickly closing the door behind her. She let out a deep sigh as she opened the bag and surveyed its contents. She'd come prepared for whatever the night might bring, having packed both her normal modest nightgown and one that wasn't quite so modest. She cast a wary glance at the door and thought of Lee on the other side of it as she tried to decide which one to wear. A slight shiver ran up her spine as she reflected on just how flirty he'd been, showing that he was up for whatever she was just before they'd been interrupted.

"It never fails," she repeated her earlier comment. She thought back for a moment to just how many times they'd been interrupted before things could progress between them, by her mother, by the job and most of all, by Francine. That thought brought her to remembering Francine's 'opening night' wisecrack and that made her decision for her. "Too many damned interruptions," she grumbled as she began to get undressed. She was determined now that they needed to seize the moment while they had it, fight or no fight. They'd just have to figure out the details of their future later, but for now, she wanted to just live in the moment for once.

A few minutes later, she stepped out of the bathroom to find Lee casually lounging on the bed idly channel-surfing. She cleared her throat loudly to get his attention as she slowly walked toward him.

"Wow," he exclaimed when he saw her and quickly clicked the TV off and cast the remote aside. "You look-"His breath caught in his throat as he drank in the sight of her. "You look beautiful," he finally said softly as he rose to meet her.

"Thank you," she replied shakily with a slight flush in her cheeks, suddenly feeling a little shy now that she could see the way he was undressing her with his eyes. _But isn't that the whole point of wearing this?_ She argued with herself. She smiled at him and in a more certain-sounding voice, added, "I'm glad you like it." She took his hands in hers and urged him back toward the bed. Once they were sitting side by side, she leaned in to brush her lips against his.

When their kiss ended, he squeezed her hands. "Amanda, you know, if you still want to wait awhile, I'm okay with that. We don't have to do this tonight."

"I know that, but I was thinking about it and why should we really wait any longer when we've already waited three years? The rest of the stuff, we'll…I don't know…we'll figure it out as we go, but this…" She gave a nod to the bed. "I really want this with you and I think we've waited too long already."

"You're damn right we have," he agreed as he tugged on her hand to pull her closer. "No more waiting."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Lee and Amanda walked happily hand-in-hand down the stairs to meet Lorelai for breakfast as planned, but they were soon dismayed to find that she wasn't in the dining room.

"Maybe she's just running a little late; maybe something came up with Rory," Amanda suggested optimistically as she released his hand and turned to face him. "I remember what it was like when the boys were that little and how hard it was to make concrete plans when one of them would get sick or would decide to have a temper tantrum out of nowhere."

"Or she's hiding because she really doesn't want to see her parents," he countered.

"I was afraid you were going to say that," she sighed dismally.

"Either way, I think we should check it out." He took her hand again and said, "Come on, let's head back out there."

When they reached Lorelai's home at the backside of the inn, before they could even knock, she shouted through the door, "GO away!"

"I guess she saw us coming," Lee sighed.

But Amanda was not to be deterred as she knocked firmly on the door. "Lorelai, listen, whatever's bothering you, we can talk about it. I'm sure we can work something out."

The door was flung open by a red-faced Lorelai dressed in her uniform and it was clear that she'd been crying. "What? What is there to work out? You can't work things out with the devil incarnate and expect things to be okay. I read _Faust_ in school and it went pretty badly for him."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Amanda replied. "In the Goethe version, he was redeemed in the end."

"But look at all the hell he had to go through to get there," Lorelai pointed out and then shook her head. "But the point is that I'm not doing that. I am not going to let my mother run in here and tell me how wrong I am for wanting to do what's best for my daughter or that I'm throwing my life away because I don't live in a stuffy, stale mansion like she does."

"What brought this on? When we talked last night, I thought we were going to help you plan your strategy."

"That was before I came back here and took a good look around this place." She finally opened the door wide enough to allow them in. She nodded to Lee. "I mean, you were right when you said it wasn't the best place to raise my kid." She gestured around the room. "My mother will take one look at this place and call child services on me."

"Okay, I was wrong when I said that," Lee confessed. "But you should also remember that I changed my mind once Amanda here pointed out everything you'd done to turn it into a real home. Maybe your mother will too."

"No!" Lorelai exclaimed in a wide-eyed panic as her heart began to pound. "She can't see this place! I'll lose everything. It won't matter that I'm doing the best I can for Rory; Emily will do anything and everything to take back control and I'll lose my daughter."

"We-ell," Amanda began as the wheels started turning in her head. "We do still have several hours until she arrives and maybe…just maybe she doesn't have to see it."

"How is that going to be possible? The first thing she'll do is demand to see where I'm living."

"So, show her, only maybe show her something different. What if she thought you and Rory actually lived in the main part of the inn instead?"

"What are you talking about, Amanda?" her partner questioned. "What if she insists on seeing it? Besides, I can't believe that you of all people, is suggesting that she lie to her mother when you hate how much you have to lie to yours."

"Okay, yes, that's true, I do hate to lie to her, but some lies are for the best to protect the people we love and in this case, I think this situation warrants it too since Lorelai is trying to protect Rory."

"What are you thinking?"

"Well, Lee, you and I have a perfectly nice room upstairs if Emily wants to see where Lorelai lives."

"Filled with our stuff," he argued.

"But like I said, we have hours before they arrive. I'm sure we could fix that."

Lorelai gaped at them wide-eyed. "You guys would really do that for me?"

"Sure, why not? You'll help won't you, Lee? I mean, as many times as you've changed apartments, you must be an expert at moving things around by now," she teased him.

He rolled his eyes. "But you know very well that I usually hire someone to do those things for-" he began to protest, but in seeing the hopeful looks on the faces of both women, he grudgingly conceded, "Fine, but you're gonna' owe me big-time for this one."

Amanda planted a quick kiss on his cheek and replied, "Thank you, but first, breakfast."

"This day just keeps getting better and better," he groused. Knowing Amanda, she'd probably try to force-feed him a four-course meal for breakfast since she was always on him about not eating properly in the morning.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That evening, Lorelai fidgeted nervously as she balanced Rory on one hip. "I wish they'd just get here already. If I'd known she was going to be late, I'd have taken the time to change out of my uniform."

"Lorelai, you've got to calm down or you're just going to upset Rory," Amanda informed her. "Babies can sense when the people around them are nervous or agitated and they get that way too."

"I'm trying, but I-"

"Here, why don't you let me take her for awhile so you can collect yourself?"

Lorelai nodded and handed Rory to Amanda, who smiled brightly at the wide-eyed little girl while Lorelai sank into the dining chair nearest her. "I need coffee!" she barked at the nearby waiter. "Bring me the biggest cup of coffee you can and while you're at it, leave the pot."

"Lorelai, we're still here," Lee interjected. "We're not going to let anything happen to you or your daughter and if things get out of hand, we can always insist that they leave."

"Absolutely," Amanda agreed. "Our main focus is you and your daughter." She turned her attention to the younger Lorelai, "Isn't that right, Rory?" She laughed when the baby happily clapped her hands in response. She had to give the young mother credit; while it was clear the girl worked way too hard, she had a very happy and well-cared for daughter.

Lee couldn't help the smile that crossed his face in watching Amanda interacting with Rory. She really was a natural with kids. He just hoped that someday, she'd see that despite how he'd tried too hard and failed the one and only time he'd really been around a child, that he was willing to learn so that he could be a full-time part of her life.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp, "Oh my God," from the doorway of the dining room.

They all turned to see Emily with a stunned look on her face. "What is the meaning of this?" she snapped as she pointed at Lorelai's uniform. "Please, tell me you wore this just to get a rise out of me, Young Lady."

Lorelai rose and squared off with her mother. "No, Mom, I wore this because it's my job. Unlike you, I work for a living."

"As a maid?"

"Yes, Mom, as a maid, though the preferred term is 'housekeeper.'"

"Well, that's just ridiculous. You were brought up to _hire_ a maid, not to be one."

"I was also brought up not to get knocked up at sixteen, but here we are," Lorelai fired back.

"I think we're all getting a little too upset here," Richard Gilmore interjected. "If we could all just sit down and talk things over like rational adults…" He turned his attention to his daughter and stated plainly, "Lorelai, I know that you like to do outrageous things simply to set your mother off - the more outrageous the better - but I also know just how smart you are and as such, I know there is some rational part of your brain that would just like to get things resolved; if not for yourself, at least for your child. Do you really want to deprive Rory of the only grandparents who actually care to be a part of her life?"

Lorelai nodded. "Fine, let's talk." She gestured to the nearby table she'd had the dining room staff set up for all of them.

Emily looked alarmed when Lee and Amanda joined them. "Are you two staying?" She glared at Amanda holding her only grandchild.

"Yes," Amanda answered. "Lorelai asked us to be here for this."

"That's moronic. You've done your job, now if you don't mind, this is a private family matter."

"Actually, we do mind," Lee responded tersely.

"I do too, so here's the deal," Lorelai began in a firm tone. "Either they stay, or you go."

"Lorelai!" Emily scolded.

"I mean it, Mom, I want them here. I've had more support from them in less than a day than I've had from you ever since you found out I was pregnant."

"Well, what do you think I was doing all those months when you were expecting, trying to make sure you ate right for you and the baby and then looking after Rory after she was born if not supporting you even after you made your asinine decision not to marry Christopher?"

"Emily…" Richard said in a warning tone, reminding her of her promise not to bring up the subject of marriage.

"Not only that," Emily barreled on, "But I hired the best nurses and nannies for her and you turned your nose up at every single one."

"Because I'M her mother!" Lorelai snapped as she rose again to stare her mother down. "Rory is MY child, not yours and not some nanny's! I needed to take care of her myself. How was I ever going to learn to be a mother if you never let me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lee jumped in as the other occupants of the dining room began to stare. "Let's all just take a deep breath and calm down."

"I agree," Amanda joined in. "I don't think it's going to do any good to rehash the past hurts. What's important now is that you're all here together again and you can move toward a brighter future."

"Why don't we all just order dinner while we calm down?" Richard suggested as he picked up a menu. "That was the purpose of setting this meeting for this time wasn't it?"

Emily took a deep breath and nodded with a slight smile to Rory, still in Amanda's arms. "My, Rory's grown so much," she gushed in an attempt to change the subject.

Lorelai flinched and gestured to Amanda who was sitting beside Emily. "I'll take her back now," she told her as she reached for her daughter and wrapped her arms around her protectively earning her a scowl from her mother.

"So, now I'm not even allowed to address my granddaughter?" Emily questioned hotly. "Honestly, Lorelai, I don't know what-

Richard cleared his throat loudly to cut off his wife's tirade before it could begin. "Lorelai, since you've been working here for awhile, perhaps you could suggest something for dinner," her father proposed in an attempt to keep the peace and indicated the menu.

"Oh, what does she know?" Emily scoffed. "She's never spent the hours that I have with meal planning as part of running a household. She probably hasn't had a proper meal since she ran away from home."

"She actually knows a lot," Lee jumped in before Lorelai could make a smart remark again or Emily could continue with her pointed barbs. "She made a recommendation for us last night that was delicious." He gave Lorelai an encouraging nod. "Maybe you could do the same for your parents."

Lorelai took a deep breath and complied, tailoring her recommendations to her parents' tastes. Once they'd all ordered and that was out of the way, she blurted out, "I'm not coming home with you." When her mother's eyes widened again, she added, "Just so we're clear. I know that's what you want and why you agreed to come – because you thought you could talk me into it - but I'm happy here and more importantly, Rory's happy here. We have a life. Granted, it's not the life you wanted for me, but it is the life I want and it will get better. I'm working full-time and saving money and I want to go to school and buy a house and a car –or maybe the car first since I'll need a car to get back and forth to work once I have a house – but the point is that this isn't just some temporary thing. Stars Hollow is my home now and Rory's."

"You have a perfectly good home in Hartford," her father gently reminded her.

"I know you think so because it's perfectly good for you, but for me it's not; it's stifling. I need a place of my own and to find my own way as an adult and as a mother."

"But why did you have to move so far away?" he mother inquired, a sharp edge in her voice, but when she saw the stern, disapproving look her husband was giving her, she took a deep breath and switched gears and suggested in a gentler tone, "What about the pool house?"

"What about it?" Lorelai questioned, her head cocked to one side curiously.

"Well, it's just sitting there and it's plenty big enough for you and Rory. We could redecorate it for you to your liking to make it your own. It has its own kitchen and bedroom and that way you could still have your own place, but still be close to home."

"Don't you get it?" the teen snapped. "I don't want to be close to home because it would be too easy to fall back into old habits of just being quiet about you controlling my life…and Rory's. I love you both, but I can't live with you anymore and the pool house would just be more of the same thing because it's still part of your home."

"Fine, but won't you at least let us help you in some way?" Emily pleaded. "If you want a car, we'll buy you one – or even the house that you want so you don't have to live here. I know you said you want a place of your own, but this isn't really yours if you're living in a motel."

"It's an inn, Mom…and no," Lorelai shook her head adamantly. "I don't want you buying me a car or a house or a boat or anything. I need to do this on my own."

"Well, how about this? Richard chimed in. "You said you wanted to go to school. If you won't accept our help for anything else, at least you could let us do that much for you. After all, had none of this ever happened, we'd have paid for your college education anyway."

"No," she insisted. "How many ways can I say it before you get it? I have to find my own way and I need you to understand that. Dad, you always told me that Gilmores value hard work and take pride in a job well done. Well, I'm still a Gilmore –unless you've disowned me since I've been gone – but either way, I still learned that lesson from you. That's why I'm working so hard here to build something for us; for Rory and me."

"So, you won't let us help you at all and you'll just never come home again?" he questioned.

She shook her head. "Not to live." When she saw her mother tear up a bit, something she'd never seen in her life before, she softened slightly and relented a bit, "Maybe Rory and I will visit for holidays."

"You will?" Emily's face lit up.

"If you'll agree to just let me live my life in peace, even if you don't approve." She gave her mother a pointed look "And stop trying to throw money at me. I'm working so hard so that I _don't_ have to depend on you or anyone else." She let out a resigned sigh, "But…I guess…I guess visits are okay."

"Well, good because you know we do have our annual Independence Day barbeque coming up in a couple of months. Remember how excited Rory got by the fireworks last year?"

"Yeah," Lorelai replied fondly. "I remember thinking she'd be scared by all the noise, but she just loved it."

"Oh, and when the finale came, remember how she squealed with delight," Richard added.

Amanda smiled at Lee as they silently watched the Gilmore family interacting and whispered, "I think our work here is done."

"I think you're right." He beamed back at her, not even bothered by the fact that contrary to Lorelai's fear that her mother would demand to see her living space, it now looked like he'd done all the work for nothing. He was just happy to see Amanda so happy and he hoped to see more of that kind of happiness in the future.


End file.
